


Not Equal, Yet, Together As One

by Chrissy6299



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: M/M, Non-violent dub-con, RPS AU, caste system
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 16:33:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1989954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrissy6299/pseuds/Chrissy6299
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where people are born in classes, Jensen Ackles is forced by society to pick a mate from the lowest class on his 18th birthday. Jensen’s mate, Jared, has few to no rights, but Jensen doesn’t necessarily agree with the law and society’s rules. Together they struggle to find their own place in each other’s life and in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Equal, Yet, Together As One

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Jared and Jensen, and all other people who you recognize, belong to themselves. I do not know them. This is 100% fiction, a.k.a. Not Real!
> 
> Author’s notes: Without the support of sammys_grl and huntress69 this story would never have been written. I love you guys, and I can't thank you two enough for being so awesome.   
> Beta'ing done by huntress69 and Annie, but any and all mistakes are mine. 
> 
> Storyline notes: In my universe the world society is based on a Caste system. The terminology used and who is born into which class:   
> Princips (upper-class): Jensen, Jason Manns  
> Patricians (middle-class): Steve Carlson, Christian Kane  
> Plebeians (lower-class): Jared, Chad Michael Murray.

 

 Banner by [ **kingsblkdragon**](http://kingsblkdragon.livejournal.com/)

 

Tomorrow was Jensen’s 18th birthday; not only would he be another year older, like previous birthdays, he would also be a man, in the law’s eyes, and more importantly, in his father’s eyes.

 

His father, Alan Ackles, was the head of the finance department of the State House, a man with a lot of influence. His mother, Donna of Ackles, was a strong woman; loving, creative, artistic, and kind to everyone. Whenever Jensen thought about it, he was surprised that his father had chosen her. He had chosen her on his 18th birthday, when she was only 15, but from the stories Jensen had heard while growing up, his mother was the same woman back then as she was now.

 

His father was a good man, but somewhat traditional. The world around them was slowly changing; Jensen saw it on the news all the time, people protesting against the class divide, people saying that all humans were equal. But his father thought that it was just a phase, that the way this country worked was perfect, and that it would never change.

 

Jensen himself had been raised in a very closed-off corner of the world, with private tutors who would come to the house to teach him everything his father felt he should know. As a child he had play-dates with children in the same class, the highest class in the country, known as Princips. But he had no real friends until the age of 16; it was only then that his father felt he was old enough to have some freedom, allowing him to make some of his own decisions. On the evening of his 16th birthday he had taken Jason out to a bar named ‘Angels’. Jason, who had moved into town two years ago, was the latest addition to the ‘friends’ whom he was forced to hang out with, but Jensen actually enjoyed Jason’s company.

 

The bar they went to was below their class, it was a Patrician’s bar, which basically meant middle class. But his father did nothing more than frown upon his choice. That night he and Jason spend most of their time hanging out with the two musicians, Steve and Chris, whenever they weren’t on the bar’s small stage, tucked away in the corner.

 

Ever since that night, the four of them had been close friends. Jensen would even at times invite them over to his house, but only when his father wasn’t home. Steve and Chris had taught him how to play the guitar and sing, not something his father was happy about. According to his father, music was a waste of time, and definitely not appropriate for Princips, but besides Jensen’s two somewhat questionable friends, Jensen was a good son, and therefore he let it slide. Jensen’s mother on the other hand loved Steve and Chris, and tried to make the guys feel welcome.

 

The four of them spent the afternoon of the day before Jensen’s 18th birthday at Jason’s house, a beautiful mansion only a bit smaller than that of Jensen’s family. It was Steve who brought up something that touched on the one subject they usually avoided talking about… class difference. They treated each other as equals, or at least as much as possible, but the difference was still there, even if they wanted to ignore it.

 

“So Jensen… tomorrow…” Steve started.

 

They were sitting in the living room on comfortable couches with chips and beer, watching a game.

 

Jensen looked away from the TV, towards Steve, as did Chris and Jason.

“What about tomorrow?” he asked, confused. They wouldn’t spend tomorrow together, birthdays were a family thing at the Ackles’ household. They all knew that.

 

“Well, it’s your 18th, are you going to, you know…” Steve looked away for a few seconds before looking back at a confused Jensen.

 

Jensen didn’t know what Steve was talking about, but he saw that whatever it was made Steve uncomfortable, yet it was obviously important enough for him to bring it up.

“No, I don’t know,” he answered honestly.

 

Steve took a deep breath, and rushed out, “Are you getting a slave tomorrow?”

 

Everyone stared at Steve in shock; this was definitely not something they talked about. While Steve and Chris came from good Patrician families, they were still one class down from Jason’s and Jensen’s families. Besides money and power, one of the major differences was that Princips had servants to do the manual labor around the house and each adult male had what they called a personal mate. The personal mates where chosen by either the young man’s family in the old fashioned families, or by the young man himself.

 

Both servants and personal mates came from the lowest of the three classes, Plebeians, which was made up of people who had only basic education but were capable of working, at least that’s how the classes were set up some 200 years ago. Nowadays, it was just into which class you happened to be born. Whether you were actually smarter and capable of much more than those in a higher class didn’t matter any longer.

 

Every Plebeian between the ages of 14 and 21 was eligible to be chosen as a servant or mate. While people were protesting against the class divide more and more, the main idea was still that being chosen was an honor, and that the people were better off this way. Of course this was an especially popular point of view among the Princips.

 

After a minute, Jensen broke the silence in the room. “They’re not slaves, Steve.”

 

“Right, they’re just people who are taken away from the only life they ever knew to do whatever you tell them to do.” Steve responded strongly. “I mean, most of them are just kids, Jensen. How can you justify forcing a 14 year old to have sex with you when your class doesn’t approve of sex under the age of 18?”

 

Jensen, rubbed his hand over his eyes, and spoke quietly. “I know, okay, I watch the news, I hear their arguments.” Jensen looked around him; both Chris and Jason were watching him, but remained silent. He stood up and started pacing. “But what am I supposed to do? I can’t tell my father no, he won’t accept that! And it’s not all black and white you know; my brother treats his mate pretty good, she seems happy when I see her, she just had their first son, whom she absolutely adores.”

 

Jason stood up, walked over to Jensen, and put a supportive hand on his shoulder to make him stop pacing. “Jensen’s right,” he said, speaking to Steve and Chris. “I’m not saying that the people on TV are lying, but they only tell about the worst case scenarios to help their cause. Often life isn’t bad for mates; my mother is happy and actually loves my dad. And you guys have known Jensen for two years now, he treats you two as equals, how can you think that Jensen would treat his mate badly?”

 

“You’re right,” Chris said, speaking for the first time since Steve had started the conversation, “Jensen wouldn’t treat his mate badly, but he won’t treat them as an equal either,” he said sadly.

 

Steve nodded in agreement, and Jensen and Jason couldn’t disagree.

 

 “I…” Jensen began, he didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t change the world and all he could do was be the best person he could be as his mother had taught him. “I have to go,” he said without looking at any of his friends. As soon as he moved towards the hallway to gather his jacket, Steve responded.

 

“Wait!” he said as he leaned over the back of the couch, reaching out with his hand toward Jensen.

 

Jensen stopped and turned, reaching out with his own hand, holding onto Steve’s for a second before giving it a light squeeze. He gave him a small smile and said, “I’ll see you guys in a few days.” That got him a big smile from Steve, though his eyes still remained somewhat sad. ‘If it wasn’t for Chris…’ Jensen stopped that thought quickly; it wasn’t a new thought, just a pointless one because Chris _was_ there and Steve only had eyes for him.

 

Jensen let go of Steve’s hand and walked out of the house where his driver was waiting to take him home.

 

\---------------------

 

At dinner that night with his parents and his younger sister Mackenzie, his mother brought up the same subject Steve had earlier that day. Jensen wasn’t surprised, it wasn’t something that was talked about often, yet children growing up in their world knew that as a male you got to pick out a mate on your 18th birthday. Jensen remembered the day before Josh’s 18th birthday when their father brought the subject up. Mackenzie had been full of questions, one of which was what Jensen thought to be a really good one. ‘If all men took a mate from the lower class, who would marry her?’ Jensen had never really thought of it before Mackenzie had asked, and the answer to her question was the thing that made the least sense to him. That day Jensen had learned that Princips woman were not seen as equal, and either stayed single and focused on their career if they were really smart or would marry a Patrician, Steve’s and Chris’ class.

 

So in-between passing the sweet peas and the potatoes around, his mother asked “Jensen, have you thought about what you’ll be looking for in a mate tomorrow?”

 

“Some,” he answered, looking down at his food which he was playing with instead of eating it. “I get to choose my own mate, right?” he asked to be sure. Josh had been allowed to pick out his own mate, and their father had been pleased with his choice. Both his parents nodded before Jensen continued. “How do you choose the person you want to spend the rest of your life with by looking through a software program for a few hours?” he questioned.

 

His mother smiled, “The right one will catch your eye, you’ll see.”

 

“Am I right to assume that your mate will be male?” Alan asked, looking straight at him.

 

Jensen couldn’t look away, and answered the question, hoping not to see too much disappointment in his father’s eyes. “Yes, sir.”

 

His father only nodded before continuing to eat his dinner. No disappointment visible, no comments, much to Jensen’s relief. He had always been open about his sexual preference and, except for some extremists here and there, the world accepted homosexuality as normal. That however did not mean that parents weren’t disappointed to hear that their son or daughter would never give them grandchildren. Jensen was lucky that Josh was straight and that he had already giving them a grandson to carry on the family legacy. Jensen had come out when he was 15. His mother had been very supportive, and his father hadn’t really commented on it one way or the other, except for giving him the ‘don’t you dare disgrace this family by having sex before you’re 18’ lecture half a dozen times, but Jensen figured that Josh had been given that lecture a few times as well.

 

“Any other criteria you’ll be looking for? Hair or eye color and stuff?” Mackenzie pitched in.

 

Jensen smiled. He loved Mackenzie, and she was a great kid, although she would argue the ‘kid’ part now that she was 14 years old. “I don’t know Mac, I guess not too short and not too young either.” Other than that, Jensen really hadn’t thought much about it, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to go out to the center tomorrow and pick out his mate. While Jensen was picking at his food and worried about tomorrow, Mackenzie had started telling about something that had happened to her that day, moving the conversation along, leaving the subject of Jensen’s mate for tomorrow.

 

\--------------------

 

The next morning Jensen woke up at 6 a.m. after a restless night. While 6 a.m. was earlier than he usually got up, he knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep anymore, so it was pointless to stay in bed. He got up, changed into sweats and a tee-shirt, and headed down to their gym to get a good work out.

 

At 8 a.m. he didn’t feel much better. Nevertheless, after a shower, he joined his parents and sister in the dining room for breakfast.

 

“Can I come along to the center?” Mackenzie asked excitedly.

 

But her father killed her excitement with a short ‘no’.

 

“There is really no reason for you to come along, Mackenzie,” Donna explained. “Jensen will go into a room where he will be told how the software works, and then he’ll be left alone with the computer where he can take his time and find his mate. I’ll be having tea with Mrs. Roberts in the mean time, and we’ll probably go shopping afterwards.” She turned to Jensen “You’ll call me when you made your choice. While it is your choice, I prefer to see your mate’s file before you submit your decision.”

 

Jensen nodded, still not really able to grasp that this was really happening. Tonight, assuming he would choose a mate from within the state, he would be the owner of a human being. His mind went back to his conversation with his friends yesterday, where he had argued that a mate was not the same as a slave, but at the moment he wasn’t all that sure anymore.

 

After breakfast he got ready to leave, and he and his mother were driven downtown where the ‘Center for Mates and Servants’ was located. It was a pretty big building, six floors high, and the inside decoration was tasteful. Jensen was led to a room which was plain yet functional: on the left side there was a desk with a comfortable chair and a computer, on the right there was a door which led to the bathroom, or so he was informed, and in the corner there was a small kitchenette with a refrigerator filled with a variety of food and drinks.

 

He was quickly shown how the software program worked. The program was basically a huge database with all the information on all available Plebeians. Jensen could fill in numerous criteria to help him sort through the millions of people.

 

After the short explanation, Jensen was left alone in the room and he sat down behind the computer, staring at the screen. He felt nervous, intimidated by the task at hand. He took a deep breath and figured he would start with the easy information. He clicked ‘male’, and selected the state ‘Texas’. Someone used to the Texas heat in the summers was definitely in order. He continued filling out the few things he knew he was looking for. With age he filled in 16-18; not wanting someone who was older than him, but not wanting a mate who was too young either. The idea of having sex with someone the same age as his little sister made him sick. So 16 to 18 would have to do. He skipped ‘eye color’ because he didn’t see how that was important, and hesitated with ‘hair color’. It didn’t really matter, but he felt like marking brown as color, so he went with his instinct. The other two things he filled in was height, in which he only filled in a minimum, and weight, in which he only filled in a maximum. Besides all this he had no idea what to fill in, so he hit the search button and got up to get a drink while the computer searched.

 

When he came back half a minute later with a Coke in his hand, the computer told him how many profiles there were waiting for him to look at: 28,261 men. With a sigh he sat down and started going through the short basic profiles that where shown on the main list along with a photo, if he saw someone who he might be interested in he could click on that person and would be able to read the person’s whole file. There was also a ‘potential’ list for him to save profiles of those who he thought might be interesting in, that list, however, was still empty after two hours of searching.

 

Three hours and several bathroom and snack breaks later, the photo of a 16 year old boy caught his eye. The boy was cute and good looking, not extremely handsome or anything, but there was something about him. His profile told Jensen that his name was Jared (no last names were used in the database), a high school student with good grades, well built, good health, participated in several after-school sports, his father had a respectable job for a Plebeian, and there was no history of crime in their family. Jared was also 6 feet 2 inches, already an inch taller than Jensen, and he was only 16 so he might even grow taller. There were two other photos in the file beside the headshot, all school photos of the current school year. Jared definitely looked good; he was indeed well-built, but he also looked innocent. He was obviously smart, and according to the file a virgin. That last bit of information was no surprise though since Plebeians were by law not allowed to engage in any sexual activities until they were chosen as mate or until after their 21st birthday, when they were no longer on the market as potential mate. Of course there were always a few who broke that law, but the majority didn’t, and Jensen had a feeling that Jared was indeed a virgin, just like himself.

 

Jensen couldn’t really explain it, not even to himself, but Jared was his mate, he just knew it. There was no need to look any further, this was the right guy. He wrote down Jared’s ID number and called his mother on his cell phone, informing her that he had made his choice. Once he hung up, he walked back to the front desk to wait for her. While waiting he had to force his thoughts of how Jared would be taken from his family without warning, never to see them or his friends ever again, to back of his mind. This was the way the world was, he couldn’t change it, maybe it wasn’t fair, but the only thing Jensen could do was treat Jared right and hope that he would be happy with him.

 

A minute later his mother walked in and Jensen showed her Jared’s file. She approved, and together they took care of the paper work. Fifteen minutes later they walked out of the center, and a phone call was made to a retrieval team to pick up Jared Padalecki, soon to be Jared of Ackles, and deliver him to the Ackles’ mansion as soon as possible.

 

\--------------------

 

Jared Padalecki was playing basketball outside with his best friend Chad. They had been best friends since forever and lived next door to each other in small townhouses just a block from the basketball field. They were both on the basketball team and where having a personal last minute practice before tomorrow’s big game. Just as Chad put the ball through the hoop with a fancy move that Jared hadn’t been able to stop, a black expensive-looking car stopped in front of the field. Two men dressed in neat suits stepped out of the car and both Jared’s and Chad’s blood ran cold. The only men looking like that who would come to their side of town were retrievers, and both Jared and Chad were of servant and mate potential age. They stood frozen as they watch the two men walk over to them.

 

“Good afternoon,” the older of the two men greeted them once they were close enough to be heard without having to raise their voices. The boys were still frozen, not able to exchange pleasantries, waiting anxiously to hear whom they had come for. The man who had spoken focused on Jared, and Jared’s world came crashing down on him as he heard the words “Jared Padalecki, you have been chosen as mate, please come with us.”

 

Every teen in his class had one goal, not to be chosen. The adults taught them that it was a great honor to be chosen, that it was something to be proud of. But the teens had heard the many horror stories of what happened to servants and mates; they were treated as slaves.

 

“But… no…” Jared said softly, shaking his head in disbelief. He looked at the two men in front of him for a few long seconds, before turning to look at Chad. He too was shaking his head, his eyes wide and filled with tears.

 

They stared at each other, while the two retrievers took a step back to give them a minute. Chad was the one who broke the silence between them.

 

“It’s not fair!” he said, more than a bit angry. “My life will suck without you,” he continued in classic Chad style.

 

Jared heard the spoken words as they were meant, it was Chad’s way of saying ‘I’ll miss you; you’ll always be my best friend’. Jared felt the same way. He gave Chad a small, sad smile, and said quietly, “Yeah,” in acknowledgement.

 

Chad reached out and pulled Jared to him, embracing him in a bone-crushing hug which Jared returned with just as much strength.

 

“Take care of yourself and good luck,” Chad whispered in Jared’s ear.

 

Jared nodded, and kept on holding tight until one of the retrievers interrupted them with a polite cough.

 

“Mr. Padalecki, we really have to go now. We still have to go by your house to pick up some of your belongings, which your mother is currently packing,” the younger and taller retriever said in an even voice.

 

That’s when it really hit him; he would never again see his parents, his little sister Megan, and his older brother Jeff, who had not yet been chosen as a mate.

 

Tears now freely made their way down Jared’s face as he finally let go of Chad. He looked up to see his best friend one final time, said goodbye, and walked with the retrievers to the car.

 

*****

 

The ride to his house was a quick one, and the second he stepped out of the car Megan jumped on him, holding onto him like she never wanted to let go, which for once was perfectly fine by Jared. She was sobbing, and repeating over and over again that she loved him and that she didn’t want him to go. Jared let her, stroking her soft hair, as they slowly made their way into the house together.

 

Their mom was waiting for them in the hallway with a big duffle bag filled to the max. Jared didn’t know what was in it, but right now he couldn’t care less. His mom pulled Megan off Jared so that she herself could hug him tight, repeating Megan’s words.

 

Jared melted in her arms, trying to permanently implant the feel and smell of her in his mind.

 

As much as he would love to stay where he was for the rest of his life, he knew that time was running out. The retrievers had been patient and considerate so far, but that would not last.

 

He pulled away from his mother, wiping her tears from her cheeks. “I love you. Please tell Dad and Jeff that I love them as well.” His father and Jeff were at work, and wouldn’t be home until 6pm. He would not be able to say goodbye to them.

 

His mother tried to smile at him but didn’t really succeed. “They love you too. We all do. You’re a good boy, I’m sure your mate will be happy with you. I hope you’ll be happy too.” She took a deep breath, trying to keep her tears at bay, and picked up the bag next to her. “Here, I picked some of your favorite stuff, I wanted to pack more, but they said only one bag was allowed.”

 

Jared took the bag from her and quietly said, “Thanks.” He kissed her and Megan once on the cheek, said goodbye, and walked out of the only home he had even known, never to return again, 100% not ready for the new life he was about to get.

 

\----------------

 

Jensen looked at the big old clock standing against the west wall next to the piano in the living room. 7:46 pm, two minutes later than the last time he looked. He was pacing restlessly from one side of the living room to the other, nervously waiting for his mate to be delivered. His parents and sister were in the dining room, playing a game and staying out of his way. For that he was grateful; he didn’t need people to hover and try to distract him.

 

Sighing out loud, he resisted the urge to once again look on the clock; it wouldn’t make Jared come any faster. And he wasn’t actually sure if he wanted him to arrive faster, but this waiting was driving him crazy, and after walking back and forward twice more, he admitted to himself that he was more scared than nervous. Though maybe terrified was a better description. Any moment now he would be handed over a 16 year old human boy for whom he would be responsible for the rest of his life. That thought was overwhelming, yet is was true whether he wanted it to be or not. No one ever bothered to ask him what he thought of the situation, he just had to handle the cards he was dealt.

 

The sound of the doorbell ringing through the house startled Jensen out of his thoughts. The moment was here… Jared was here, right behind the hard oak door. Jensen stared at it as the only object that stood between him and his inevitable future. It was not until the doorbell was rung again that Jensen made his way over the door, and with a deep breath he gathered the courage to open it.

 

On the porch were two retrievers standing with Jared in between them. Jared had his head down, looking at the floor, so Jensen couldn’t get a good look at him, but he was tall, and the brown locks of hair that were hiding his eyes looked soft, making Jensen itch to brush them away to feel for himself and to find the boy hidden behind them. But he resisted the urge and let the conditioning of his upbringing take over, greeting the retrievers and inviting them inside. They escorted Jared inside and quickly excused themselves, leaving them standing in the hallway, Jensen staring at Jared, while Jared was still staring at the floor.

 

Jensen took a moment to take the sight of Jared in. His hair was long and wild, well… longer than his own short cut hair anyway, and a bit longer than it had been in the photos that came with Jared’s file. Jared had a duffle bag hanging on this left shoulder, he was wearing plain clothes, a t-shirt, jeans, and old running shoes that were in serious need of replacement. From what the t-shirt revealed Jared was slim yet toned, much like Jensen himself, though Jared’s arms and legs were longer, an obvious sign that he was not yet done growing even though he was already taller than Jensen.

 

The silence in the room was just plain creepy, and Jensen figured that if he was terrified, Jared must feel even worse; time to make them both feel a little more at ease.

 

“Hey Jared, I’m Jensen.”

 

Jared slowly moved his head up and wearily looked Jensen over. Once his eyes landed on Jensen’s face, Jensen gave him a soft smile, which unfortunately did nothing to relieve the tension he saw on his face. But tension or not, Jared was beautiful, the photos in the file had definitely not done him justice. His eyes, his mouth, Jensen could only imagine how gorgeous he would be when happy. Jensen continued, trying to keep his voice light and gentle, “I’m glad that you’re here. How about we go up to our room and get you settled?”

 

His question was met with silence, but when Jensen walked towards the stairs, Jared followed him. Once upstairs Jensen turned left towards the side of the house that he used to share with Josh, but ever since Josh moved out he had it all to himself.

 

Jensen walked into his bedroom, no wait, their bedroom he corrected himself, and he left the door open for Jared to follow without feeling trapped. When he was in the middle of the room, standing at the foot of his bed, he turned around to look at Jared, whom he found standing in the doorway. Nevertheless, he was looking at Jensen instead of at the floor, so Jensen counted it as some progress, and he moved toward the dresser on the right to point out to Jared which drawers were his to use, hoping to give Jared some space so that he would come into the room by himself. Jensen continued talking, explaining to him where he could put his belongings.

 

He had rearranged his walk-in-closet so that the left side was now bare, ready for Jared’s clothes, and in the bathroom he had done the same. Not that Jared could see inside the walk-in-closet or the bathroom from where he was still standing. Disappointed by Jared’s lack of initiative, Jensen sat down on his bed, facing Jared. But he did not let himself stay discouraged for long, “Are you hungry? Sharon, our cook, makes a mean apple pie.”

 

To Jensen’s delight that got him his first response from Jared as he slowly nodded.

 

“Cool, why don’t you unpack while I go get it.”

 

With Jared still standing in the doorway, Jensen had to squeeze past him, and even though Jared all but went through the doorpost, their arms still brushed against each other and Jensen got a whiff of Jared’s musk, and after that half a second in each other’s personal space Jensen knew that he made the right choice, because Jared smelled and felt just _right_.

 

When Jensen got back with two plates with apple pie, he was happy to see that Jared had indeed entered the room and was almost done unpacking.

 

Jared froze in place with a pair of jeans in his hands as Jensen came in. Jensen walked past him and put Jared’s apple pie on what would be his side of the bed’s nightstand; he then moved to the other side to sit on the desk chair and slowly ate his own pie. Jared finished unpacking, which really wasn’t a lot, placed the bag on the floor in the walk-in closet, and copied Jensen’s actions, except he sat on the foot of the bed, as far way from Jensen as possible.

 

“You don’t have a lot of clothes,” Jensen commented, “we’ll go shopping soon to get you some more.”

 

“I was only allowed to bring one bag.” Jared spoke for the first time, though it was spoken softly and toward the half eaten apple pie.

 

“I’m sorry about that. It wasn’t by my order; I guess that’s just regulation. I hope that you were able to pack your favorites.”

 

Jared just kept eating, and once his plate was empty he kept staring at it.

 

After giving him a minute, Jensen got up, kneeled down by Jared, and took the plate from him. “Jared. Jared, look at me.” And when two scared, green eyes did as he’d asked, he continued. “I know this is scary. Hell, I’m a bit overwhelmed and I’m not the one who got taken from their family. But it’s going to be okay, Jared, I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to be with you, get to you know, and I want us both to be happy.”

 

A mixture of confusion and distrust was clearly written in Jared’s eyes, and Jensen moved to sit beside him, taking a minute to gather his thoughts.

 

“I don’t know what you’re expecting, but I was hoping that the next few days we could just hang out and get to know each other. We’ll start out tomorrow morning with a tour of the house, though in a few weeks we’ll move into our own place. My father was nice enough to let me stay one more month. In two weeks I’ll start my apprenticeship, much to my father’s dismay I chose not to work in the financial department of the State’s House and follow his footsteps as my brother did. Instead I chose to work in the State’s Council, you know, where the heads of the court, church, and hospitals are. I hope to be a judge, and will study under Judge Kelly, who is one of the current judges of the Plebeian’s court.”

 

Jared was staring at his hands in his lap, but he nodded every now and then, letting Jensen know he was listening.

 

“So, in about three weeks I hope to move out, I was thinking about a nice apartment. No point in getting a big house when it’s just the two of us. Anyway, after the tour, we’ll have breakfast with my parents and younger sister, Mackenzie, you don’t have to worry about them, they’ll like you. After that, we’ll do whatever we feel like, play some basketball or some videogames, we’ll see.”

 

Jensen reached out and put a hand on Jared’s shoulder in an attempt to get him to look at him, but instead he felt Jared flinch under his hand. He kept his hand where it was though, and called out Jared’s name, which did give the desired result. When Jared’s eyes were again on him, he started with reminding Jared once again, “I’m not going to hurt you,” and then went on addressing the one point that he knew was mostly likely Jared’s main concern, “just like you, this is all new for me, and I want to get to know you before we have sex. Okay? So for let’s say at least a week **,** all that we’ll be doing in this bed is sleeping.”

 

While he could see that Jared was suspicious, Jensen also saw a small amount of hope, hope that he had no intention of betraying.

 

“I already took a shower after dinner, so the bathroom is all yours. Wear what you always wear when you go to sleep. That’s your side of the bed,” Jensen said as he pointed to the side that Jared was already sitting on.

 

After Jared disappeared into the bathroom, Jensen forced himself to go to bed and try to relax as he waited for Jared to come to bed. The only light in the room came from the lamp on Jared’s nightstand, giving Jared the control of when to make the room dark, but it was enough light to reveal to Jensen how great Jared looked when he came out of the bathroom wearing only his boxers. He expressed his thoughts out loud, and he could swear that he could see Jared blush.

 

 “I’m all arms and legs,” Jared countered as he made his way into bed, staying on his side.

 

“You’ll grow into them, and then you’ll be even more stunning, you’ll see,” Jensen reassured him, and he copied Jared’s movements, staying on his own side of the bed. “Goodnight, Jared.”

 

“Goodnight, Jensen.”

 

And with the sound of his name from Jared’s lips ringing in his ears, he fell asleep.

 

\----------------

 

The first few days after Jared arrived, they spend most of the time together, talking, playing computer games and a few games of basketball, which Jensen all lost after he finally convinced Jared that, just like with the computer games, he wanted strong and fair competition and it was all right to get physical to get the ball from him.

 

To Jensen’s delight, Jared seemed to start to get comfortable with him, though the early mornings and late evenings were still a moment of uncertainty of what his place was and what was expected of him, even though Jensen had made no demands in any shape or form.

 

At the end of the week, Jensen had planned to take Jared over to Chris and Steve’s place. They were playing that evening at ‘Angels’, their usual hangout, and he wanted to spend the day with them.

 

The day before Jensen had excitedly told Jared about their plans, and though he wasn’t really thrilled about it, Jared didn’t mind the idea of getting out of the house. That was until he woke up early in the morning feeling horrible.

 

He turned toward the digital clock on Jensen’s nightstand and suppressed a moan when he opened his eyes, 6a.m. He slowly made his way out of bed and to the bathroom, and as quietly as possible, so not to wake Jensen, he took an aspirin and washed it away with some water from the faucet. After only three days of drinking bottled spring water he already noticed the foul taste of the tap water, water that he had drank all his life. The taste upset his stomach even more and he fought down the need to puke, not wanting to wake up Jensen, who, he was sure, wouldn’t be happy with being disturbed this early in the morning.

 

He made his way back to bed, stopping more than once, waiting for the room to stop spinning before moving on. Once he was back under the covers, he went back to sleep within a minute.

 

Until Jensen shook him awake around 8 a.m. “Time to get up, I’m already finished in the bathroom, hurry up before you miss breakfast.”

 

Missing breakfast sounded great to Jared, but seeing how excited Jensen was about visiting his friends today, it most likely wasn’t appreciated. So Jared forced himself out of bed and took a shower. He quickly washed himself, ignoring his dizziness, the fact that the water droplets hurt his skin like they were needles, and the tears that were falling down his face because all he wanted was his mom; she always took care of him when he was sick.

 

Afterwards, as he looked into the mirror to shave, he wondered why he didn’t even look half as bad as he felt, because apart from being a bit pale, he looked fine, his eyes weren’t even that red from crying.

 

With a sigh he finished up in the bathroom, got dressed in what he hoped was appropriate for hanging out with Jensen’s friends, and made his way down to the breakfast room, to eat breakfast that he no desire to eat.

 

Since he was late, Mackenzie had already left, and Jensen and his parents were discussing Jensen’s upcoming apprenticeship. They were so involved in the conversation that besides a quick ‘hey’ from Jensen, they didn’t even notice that Jared barely touched his food.

 

After a few minutes he excused himself, and made his way back to the bathroom in time to empty his stomach in the toilet bowl. He gave himself the luxury of sitting on the floor while leaning against the wall for a few minutes, before he heaved himself up to brush his teeth and got ready to leave, so that they could go whenever Jensen wanted to. He washed his face once more to wash away the sweat from his face, changed his now sweat soaked shirt for a new one even though he felt so hot that he really didn’t want to wear anything, and walked downstairs to wait for Jensen in the hallway.

 

After a minute he sat himself down on the second step of the stairs and leaned sideways to rest his head against the wall.

 

This is how Jensen found him ten minutes later. “You’re ready to go?” Jensen asked as he walked into the hallway from the living room.

 

Jared quickly stood up; too quickly apparently, seeing that he needed to reach out for the wall with his left hand to steady himself.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” Jensen sounded concerned as he made his way to Jared.

 

However Jared figured he was just being nice, just like he had been these last few days, but Jared was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, and felt that having to change his plans because his mate was sick might be that prolific shoe and he would meet the not so nice side of Jensen. Therefore, he waved off Jensen’s concern, stood up straight, and moved to open the front door. Just as his right hand touched the door handle, Jensen grabbed him by his left arm, not squeezing, just holding him at the elbow, but Jared couldn’t help but flinch.

 

“Come here,” Jensen turned him toward him and pulled him close, “what’s wrong?”

 

Jensen sounded gentle and his eyes were seemed truly concerned, but Jared looked away. “Nothing.”

 

Despite his answer, Jensen put his hand on Jared’s forehead. “You’re burning up, and you’re shaking in my arms. You’re sick, why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“You want to take me to see your friends,” he mumbled to the floor.

 

Jensen enveloped him into his arms and hugged him. “Not when you’re sick, silly.”

 

Up until now Jensen had kept his distance, and the most they had touched was during their basketball games, but Jared found that he felt unexpectedly safe in Jensen’s arms, and he was very comfortable, so he returned the hug by winding his long arms around Jensen and closed his eyes.

 

Regrettably, after a minute Jensen broke the hug, though he left his left arm around Jared’s waist for support. “Let’s get you to bed so that you can rest. My friends can wait, your health is more important to me.”

 

Jensen helped Jared undress down to his boxers, got him under the covers, and surprised him with a soft kiss on this forehead. After that he left with a whispered, “I’ll be back.” Jared assumed that it would be a few hours from then, if not late at night if he went to hang out with his friends without him.

 

Jensen, however, came back within five minutes with a bottle of water and aspirins, which he placed on Jared’s night stand. Then he undressed himself, lay down next to Jared on his side and combed his fingers through Jared’s hair until he fell asleep.

 

\----------------

 

Two days later Jared felt much better, and Jensen was sitting on the bed, waiting for Jared to come out of the bathroom. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves, which were starting to make him nauseous. He knew it was time, waiting longer would not make it any easier on either of them. As promised, all they had done for the first week was sleep next to each other, but the week was up and sleeping next to Jared without touching him was starting to take its toll on Jensen. He genuinely liked Jared, more so then he could possibly imagine liking anyone who he had only known for a week after ‘ordering’ him based on a computer file.

 

The sound of the bathroom door opening announced that Jared was ready for bed. Jensen looked up and stared. Jared was wearing only his boxers, like he did every time he went to sleep, a sight that Jensen felt he would never stop enjoying. While Jared was only sixteen, and as expected, not fully developed yet, he was already striking, and would only get more handsome in the years to come.

 

Jared seemed to feel the tension in the room and stopped a few feet from the bed.

 

“Come here,” Jensen said softly, and took Jared’s hand as he came closer to his side of the bed. He gently pulled him to sit on the bed, facing him with only a few inches between them.

 

Jared looked at him with wide eyes, eyes filled with apprehension, but also some curiosity.

 

Jensen took a minute to look at him, while he reached out to brush aside a lock of hair that was stubbornly hanging in front of Jared’s left eye. ‘So innocent, so young.’ Jensen silently cursed society and his father for putting him in this position.

 

He gave Jared a soft smile in an attempt to communicate that it was going to be alright, and moved his hand back to Jared’s face, this time to stroke his jaw with his thumb as he slowly moved in to kiss Jared for the first time.

 

The kiss only lasted a few seconds, and Jared stayed still the whole time, frozen as a sculpture, not responding to Jensen at all. Jensen moved back a bit to gauge Jared’s response, and was disappointed yet not surprised to see that all curiosity had left him and that only fear remained.

 

Jensen moved back a little more, to give Jared some apparently much needed space. “That was your first kiss?” he asked gently, without judgment.

 

Jared simply nodded, as if incapable of speech.

 

“That’s okay, we’ll work on it. For me that was my third kiss, my first one was when I was 14 with a girl who used to live next door. She slapped me in the face in response. And the second kiss, well, the second time I kissed a friend and I ended up with a black eye. So this kiss has actually been my best kiss yet.” Jensen forced himself to stop rambling, seeing that it did not have the desired effect of relaxing Jared. He seemed to be staring through him, still terrified and not really listening to a word he was saying.

 

“Jared. Jared, look at me.”

 

Jared blinked and focused on him for a second, then looked down, seeming embarrassed, and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to be scared, Jared, we won’t have intercourse today.”

 

At that Jared’s head shot up. “We won’t?”

 

And Jensen hated how hopeful he sounded. “No, we won’t. Honestly, I’m not ready for it. You’ve got to remember, I’ve never done this either.”

 

That got him a little smile from Jared and an “Okay.”

 

“So, let’s first talk about this. That way we know what each other’s experience is and we’ll be on the same page of what’s going to happen.”

 

“I’m pure!” Jared said right away, taking what Jensen said as a suggestion that he believed Jared to be otherwise.

 

“I know you never had sex with anyone before, I always assumed that, and I’m not doubting that, Jared. I’m a virgin too; like you, I would never disgrace my family like that. But, as I said, I have kissed two people before you, and I now know that you have not. What about masturbating, have you done that?”

 

“No!” Jared shook his head wildly, looking shocked at the question. “Father Joseph insisted that we not touch ourselves; insisted that we stay pure. I’m pure, Jensen, I swear!”

 

Jensen reached out for Jared’s right hand and let his fingers trace invisible lines across Jared’s palm. “It’s okay, Jared, I believe you. It’s good that you listened to Father Joseph, although to me an absence of sex would have been pure enough. I have no problem with you masturbating, I have done it many times and I enjoy it, so if you want, you may pleasure yourself whenever you are alone and have the time.”

 

As Jared was listening to him, Jensen had continued playing with his hand and had moved closer. Jared had noticed and was now looking at their joined hands.  His expression was unreadable, but he was biting his bottom lip, and Jensen thought it was absolutely cute and couldn’t wait to kiss him again. But Jensen forced himself to focus on the conversation at hand. Kissing and touching would come soon enough.

 

“Jared?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Did you hear and understand what I just told you?”

 

Jared blushed. “Yes, but… I don’t know if… I mean how…” He sighed in frustration and when he saw Jensen’s smile, which he had been unable to suppress because Jared was just too adorable, he averted his eyes and even more blood rushed to his face.

 

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to, it’s your choice, and the how part you’ll learn soon enough.” At that, Jared looked up sharply, but Jensen continued before Jared could say anything, telling Jared his plan, hoping that Jared wouldn’t freak out. “In a few minutes, we’re going to lie down on the bed, we going to try that kissing again, and hopefully you’ll participate this time. Then we’re going to move on and explore each other’s bodies, through looking, touching, and kissing. All this will go both ways, and we can take as long as we want to.”

 

Jensen stopped for a minute, letting Jared take it all in, while he moved his fingers further up, now stroking the inside of Jared’s forearm. Jared seemed nervous but not as scared as before, and he nodded his head, though probably without even realizing it, which Jensen took as a sign to continue.

 

“And, if all this is as pleasurable as everyone says it is,” Jensen continued lightly. “We’ll end with bringing each other off with our hands.”

 

Jared’s response was to pull away his right arm and move backwards, away from Jensen. But Jensen caught Jared’s arm at the wrist and held on without holding him too tight, not wanting to hurt him, but also not wanting to lose contact.

 

Without letting go, he finished what he was going to say, “ **If** , at that time, you don’t want to come, I won’t force you.”

 

*****

 

Jared looked down at Jensen’s hand that was holding him and felt anger course through him. He knew that Jensen was being considerate by going slow, he knew that he could have been fucked that first night he arrived, but in the end it came down to the same thing. “But I **have** to please you.” he said, clearly a bit resentful, though he tried to keep his anger at bay, not wanting to make Jensen mad.

 

Jensen released his wrist and continued stroking his forearm, which really didn’t feel that bad honestly. “Yes, you have to. But if you could give it a chance, you can enjoy this too.”

 

Part of Jared believed it, or wanted to anyway; Jensen had been good to him so far. Things definitely had not been as bad as he expected them to be. So maybe, just maybe, Jensen was right. But after years of hearing horror stories about how chosen ones were abused and used, and sermons from Father Joseph telling them that they were on Earth to serve and please Princips and not to please themselves, it was hard to believe what Jensen was saying.

 

“Right,” he said, though he was sure that Jensen could hear in his voice that he wasn’t convinced. “What do you want me to do?”

 

Jensen silently got up, moved to lie under the covers, and lifted the covers as an invitation for Jared to join him.

 

He swallowed, took a deep breath, and accepted the invitation he couldn’t refuse. His heart was beating so hard he couldn’t hear what Jensen was saying as he stiffly lay down beside him. Jensen’s hand was on his arm again, this time it was moving up though until he reached his shoulder. He opened his eyes, eyes that he wasn’t even aware of having closed, and saw Jensen leaning half over him just before he moved in to kiss him for a second time.

 

This time Jensen did not stop the kiss after a few seconds, so Jared surrendered and experimentally moved his lips. Having someone else’s lips on his was a bit strange, but it didn’t feel bad. Actually, it felt kind of tingly, in a good way.

 

Jensen moved back an inch, giving them both a chance to catch their breath.

 

“Was that okay?”

 

Jared nodded, because it wasn’t great or anything, but ‘okay’ was a good description.

 

Of course that encouraged Jensen to kiss him again, but Jared knew that nothing was going to hinder him anyway.

 

This time Jensen’s tongue started to lick his bottom lip, asking to be let in. Jared complied and opened his mouth to let Jensen explore.

 

Now **this** was strange; their teeth grinded against each other and Jensen’s tongue was all over the place. It tasted like mint toothpaste and something else that Jared couldn’t identify. However, it wasn’t unpleasant, and once they figured out how to make their teeth stay out of it, once they remembered to breathe through their noses, and once Jared started using his own tongue, it started to feel nice and Jared didn’t really want to stop.

 

Jensen in the meantime had moved them so that they were both lying on their sides, facing each other. And they made out like that for a long time, with only their mouths and Jensen’s hand on Jared’s shoulder, doing nothing but touching.

 

It couldn’t last of course; Jensen broke the kiss, and moved back far enough to look at him. They were both breathing heavily, and Jensen broke out in a smile. “I think that practice really does make perfect. And we’re both fast learners, because that was good.”

 

Jared couldn’t help but smile back a little, and he had no desire to argue. He felt Jensen’s eyes on his mouth as he licked his red and swollen lips just before Jensen moved in again for another kiss, but this one didn’t last long. Jensen moved on and kissed a trail from his mouth down to his neck. He guided Jared onto his back, and both his hands started moving up and down his arms.

 

Jared lay still, not knowing what to do, though he tilted his head a little to give Jensen better access to his neck, because apparently kisses didn’t only feel good when given on his mouth.

 

Jensen continued, moving his hands to Jared’s sides and started a trail of kisses toward his chest. Instinctively, Jared’s whole body tensed up; his mind going wild with scenarios of what Jensen would do next.

 

He didn’t get the time to run too many scenarios though, because Jensen had stopped what he was doing the second he felt Jared’s body freeze. He reached up to stroke through Jared’s hair and looked worriedly down at him.

 

“Did I hurt you in anyway?”

 

Jared closed his eyes and shook his head. No, Jensen hadn’t hurt him, Jensen hadn’t done much of anything and Jared was already freaking out. ‘How are you going to handle being fucked if you can’t even handle some light petting,’ Jared scolded himself.

 

Luckily, Jensen was a lot more understanding.

 

“It’s okay. I was just exploring. You’re gorgeous.”

 

Jensen gave him a quick peck on his lips, and moved to lie on his back, pulling Jared with him so that his upper body was half on top of him. Jared right away pushed himself up, supporting himself with his arms, just high enough so that their chests were not touching.

 

Jensen didn’t seem to mind, and just encouraged Jared. “Touch me anywhere you want; explore.”

 

Jared just stared for a minute, his eyes wandering over Jensen’s naked upper-body. Jensen seemed to be well proportioned everywhere, as far as he could tell anyway, since the covers hid the rest of him and he had yet to see Jensen without his boxers on. Jensen was good-looking. Even Jared knew that. He was well-toned, but not overly so, he had no chest hair, and a flat stomach with a fine line of soft looking hairs leading to… okay. Jared forced himself to stop his line of thoughts and to look up back up at Jensen, who had apparently been watching him the whole time. 

 

Forcing himself to do as Jensen had requested, Jared decided to start with what he knew and go from there. So he shifted his weight onto one arm, leaned over and kissed Jensen. He apparently approved of that plan and enthusiastically kissed him back. In the meantime, Jared used his free hand to caress Jensen’s arm, pleasantly surprised at the smooth skin under his hand. After a little while he moved his hand experimentally over to Jensen’s chest, and Jensen moaned into his mouth as his fingers brushed over a nipple. Jared broke the kiss and brought back his hand to retrace its steps, while looking at Jensen’s reaction. His eyes were closed, and his chest moved up a little toward Jared as if asking for more.

 

All his apprehension forgotten for the moment, Jared copied Jensen’s earlier steps and kissed a trail down his neck, with the neglected nipple as his end goal, but as he kissed Jensen’s neck he received another moan. And really, it was pretty cool to find all these spots that made Jensen moan. So his hands and mouth explored Jensen’s whole upper-body, finding all of Jensen’s sensitive spots.

 

“Jared.” Jensen spoke after long minutes of only moaning. “Jared,” he called out again, “You’ve got to stop.”

 

Jared moved back to lie beside Jensen on his side, not sure why he was being stopped. “Did I do something wrong?” he asked, hearing anxiety and confusion in his own voice.

 

Jensen leaned up to give Jared a kiss. “No, it was great; it’s just… well…” Not knowing how to say it, he lifted up the bed covers, leaving him covered in only boxers that did little to hide his erection.

 

Jared looked away quickly. “Oh.” He had forgotten about that part.

 

Jensen lowered the covers, covering himself up, and reached out to grasp Jared’s chin and make him looked at him. “As I said, I want to do this both ways tonight. I want try and find all the sensitive places that make you moan.”

 

“Okay,” Jared said quietly, and leaned back and tried to relax as Jensen started touching and kissing him.

 

Jensen took his time, and after a while Jared relaxed some more and it started to feel nice, which made him even more relaxed. Every now and then Jensen would come up to kiss him, which he liked, and after a while he realized that **he** was becoming hard. It had happened before of course, but it had always been something to be ashamed of and to ignore. Consequently, the imprinted instinct made him freeze up. Again, Jensen stopped what he was doing and seemed concerned.

 

“What’s wrong?” he asked patiently.

 

“I… I’m…”

 

“It’s all right; just tell me.”

 

“I’m sorry. I’m hard,” Jared whispered and then looked away, not wanting to see the disgust and disappointment in Jensen’s eyes.

 

Jensen pulled away the covers, and saw that Jared was indeed half erect.

 

“Jared, look at me, please.”

 

The ‘please’ surprised Jared and he looked back at Jensen despite his embarrassment. When he did, he was once again surprised; this time because Jensen did not look disgusted or disappointed, he actually looked happy.

 

“Don’t be embarrassed, this is good Jared,” Jensen explained. “I want you to enjoy sex with me whenever you can.”

 

Jared was confused, but didn’t argue; he was just glad that Jensen wasn’t angry.

 

“May I see you, and touch you?”

 

Jared was about to say no, but for unknown reasons his head wasn’t cooperating, and he nodded yes.

 

Before he could register what he just gave Jensen permission to do, Jensen had moved onto his knees and was removing Jared’s boxers. And before he knew it, for the first time ever, a hand was wrapped around his cock and the feeling was overwhelming. He could do nothing more than lie there with his eyes closed. But he stayed silent, not daring to express his pleasure, until Jensen used his other hand to fondle his balls. He could no longer restrain himself and he moaned Jensen’s name, his hips moving up to meet Jensen’s hands, and he came; intense pleasure shooting through his whole body.

 

The next thing he registered was Jensen cleaning him up with a warm, wet cloth.

 

“Hey, welcome back.” Jensen smiled at him.

 

Jared just smiled back, not really ready for words yet.

 

When he was done, Jensen moved up so that he could look at Jared without making him move. He brushed away a few locks of his hair that were stuck to his sweaty brow, and kissed him.

 

Jared kissed him back slow and sloppy, quite happy to spend the rest of the night where he was.

 

Unfortunately for him, Jensen had other plans.

 

“Are you ready to take care of me?”

 

Puzzled, it took Jared a minute to understand what Jensen was talking about. He lifted his head a little to look at Jensen’s boxers for confirmation, the boxers were indeed, just as he as had anticipated, still tented.

 

His head dropped back on the pillow and he closed his eyes. He had no idea how to make Jensen feel as good as he had just made him feel, but he nodded his head anyway, knowing that he _had_ to.

 

Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes to see Jensen waiting patiently. He made quick work of laying Jensen on his back and sitting next to him on his knees, much like Jensen had done with him.

 

He lifted the boxers, and Jensen’s cock sprang free before Jared could move the boxers even an inch down. After he got rid of Jensen’s last piece of clothing, Jared couldn’t do anything but stare at the hard, dark red, immense cock in front of him. He’d never looked at one before, not even his own when it was hard.

 

Forcing himself to keep on going, Jared wound his right hand lightly around Jensen’s cock, afraid of squeezing too tightly. The second he touched Jensen, he heard him suck in a deep breath and Jensen’s cock jumped slightly in his hand.

 

It felt really strange, but Jensen seemed to like it, therefore he experimentally moved his fist up and down.

 

“Fuck” Jensen moaned, as he thrust his hips up into Jared’s fist. “More, Jared. Tighter.”

 

Jared did as told, keeping up his movements, staring at the precome that was leaking out of Jensen’s cock. And not a minute later, Jensen came with his name on lips, shooting his load all over Jared’s hand and his own stomach.

 

Jared looked from his come-covered hand to Jensen’s face, and he had to admit that the blissed-out look suited him.

 

Jared got up and walked to the bathroom to wash his hand, since the come felt slimy and sticky, and really just gross. Then, copying Jensen’s previous actions, he took a warm, wet cloth with him to clean Jensen up, before crawling back into bed. Jensen moved closer to him, put his head on Jared’s shoulder, draped his arm around Jared’s waist, and whispered a soft ‘thanks’ before falling asleep.

 

Sleep was something that eluded Jared though, as he stared at the ceiling, trying to process what just happened, a thousand emotions running through him, too confused to rest until hours later when he fell asleep purely from exhaustion

 

\----------------

 

The next morning, after a few uncomfortable minutes where Jared found himself entangled with Jensen’s limbs when he woke up, Jensen distracted him from what happened the night before by announcing that they were going to visit his friends.

 

Even though Steve and Chris weren’t playing at the ‘Angels’ that evening, Jensen wanted to go and finally introduce Jared to them.

 

Jared was nervous; Jensen’s friends seemed to mean a lot of him, and he wanted… them to like him, to not embarrass Jensen? He didn’t really know, but he was nervous nonetheless, fidgeting with his shoelaces on his right shoe as he sat with one leg on the backseat of the car, hugging his leg, resting his chin on top of his knee.

 

Jensen laughed sympathetically, “Relax, Jared, they’re my friends, they’ll like you and treat you right.” and he ran a hand through Jared’s hair, playing with it, trying to convey that there really was nothing to worry about.

 

Soon they arrived at Chris and Steve’s place, and the first thing that Jared noticed after exiting the car, was that it was a pretty modest little house, nothing fancy like Alan Ackles’ mansion. The house was painted white, didn’t have a second floor, had a small, not very well kept yard, and a nice porch filled with wooden chairs and some empty beer bottles.

 

Staying a few feet behind Jensen, they walked up onto the porch, and entered the house after Jensen knocked and then let himself in without waiting for an invitation from the house’s inhabitants.

 

Inside, three guys were sitting on the two big couches in the living room, playing computer games. The guy who wasn’t playing at that time, the only one in the room with blond, long, curly hair, was the first one to spot them. He jumped up from the couch with a smile on his face and enthusiastically came up to Jensen and hugged him tight.

 

In the mean time, the other two guys had paused their game and joined them.

 

The shortest of them all, though he looked tough enough to take them on, even with the gorgeous and incredibly soft looking long, brown hair, (not that Jared would notice such things, or would he?) laid a hand on the blonde’s shoulder and pulled him back a little.

 

“Dude, you’ve got your own mate nowadays, so maybe you can keep you hands and eyes of off mine now?” The guy was smiling as he spoke to Jensen, and no one seemed to take him seriously, but somehow Jared got the feeling that he really did mean it.

 

The blond let go of Jensen, and elbowed his boyfriend playfully in the ribs. “Be nice.”

 

Jensen stepped forward to hug both other guys quickly, as it seemed to be the standard ‘hello’ here. Once done, he stepped back next to Jared, put his hand on the small of his back, and pushed him a little to get him to take a small step forward.

 

Jensen made the formal introductions, and Jared learned that the blonde’s name was Steve, Chris was the tough guy, and the only one of the three who seemed to have had a haircut within the last few years was Jason.

 

They all greeted him warmly and invited them both to join them in their games and to help themselves to beer and snacks as they pleased.

 

Jared was having a great time; Jensen’s friends all treated him as one of the guys, and soon Jared felt like he was free to talk, play, laugh, and just be himself. This was the first time that he, since he was chosen, felt this at ease when anyone other than just Jensen was around.

 

After one beer and several sodas (he wasn’t used to drinking so one beer seemed enough), he made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself.

 

As he came out of the bathroom he found Chris leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom door. Assuming that Chris was just waiting for his turn, Jared turned to walk back to join the other guys, but Chris stopped him by wrapping a hand around his upper arm. Jared stopped and let himself be pulled back, his heart speeding up in fear. He liked Chris, and he seemed like a good guy, but Jared couldn’t help but remember the horror stories he’d heard as a child, some of which told of Princips who shared their mate among their friends to be used whenever and however they pleased.

 

Chris had apparently felt Jared tense up, and released his arm quickly. “Relax, I have no intention of hurting you.”

 

Jared looked up to see a warm, kind smile on Chris’ face, and he returned an hesitant smile as Chris continued, “Hell, if I would hurt a single hair on your head, I think Jensen would probably kill me, or well… try to anyway.”

 

“Then why…?” Jared wondered out loud.

 

“Oh, right, yeah. I wanted to talk to you for a minute, check if you are all right; if Jensen is treating you well.”

 

Jared started to reassure him, but Chris wouldn’t let him talk yet.

 

“I don’t mean ‘well’ by the law’s standards, ‘cause the law is fucked up. No, I mean well for a human being.”

 

After making sure that Chris this time was indeed finished talking, Jared voiced his original answer, because it hadn’t changed after Chris’ explanation of what he meant, though hearing what Chris thought of the law made Jared like him even more. “Jensen treats me well, much better than I had expected to be treated.”

 

“Good, glad to hear it. Jensen is my friend and a good guy, but I had to check, you know. However, if that ever changes, if anything happens or you simply feel like you need to talk, feel free to call me, okay?”

 

Jared was stunned at Chris’ words and stared at the piece of paper that was pushed into his hands, which held Chris’ name and a phone number.

 

“Now, the question is, have you got talent?”

 

“What?” Jared asked utterly confused, while putting the piece of paper in the back pocket of his jeans.

 

“We decided to leave the game computer be for a while and play some music. So, do you sing, play an instrument, what?”

 

“Ah, well, I can’t sing, but I can play the guitar.”

 

“Cool, join the others and tell Steve to get you a guitar. I’m going to take a leak since I’m here anyway.”

 

When he walked back into the living room, Jensen’s eyes sought him out right away, like he was waiting for him to get back. In response, to assure him that everything was fine, Jared smiled at him.

 

The rest of the afternoon they played music and messed around. Jared was in awe of Jensen’s singing voice. The other guys were great too, but Jensen… Jared was sure that he could just listen to Jensen sing for hours and never get bored.

 

Time passed quickly and soon Jensen had to announce that they were leaving. “We really should head back home so that we’ll be in time for dinner. My mom is being clingy now that she realizes that we’ll move out soon.”

 

“All right man, see you both soon?” Steve asked as he got up to see them out.

 

“Of course, later, guys!” Jensen said before following Steve out of the living room.

 

Jared said goodbye to Chris and Jason as well and joined Jensen and Steve outside on the porch, only to find them standing there, hugging each other again.

 

As Jared came closer, he noticed that Steve was talking softly to Jensen while he was holding him close, but Jared couldn’t make out what he was saying.

 

After Steve pulled away, he faced Jared. “It was good meeting you, Jared; I hope to see you around here a lot.”

 

The three of them said goodbye, and Jared and Jensen settled back into the car.

 

*****

 

Not two minutes later Jensen asked Jared, “What’s up?”

 

It wasn’t until then that Jared realized that he had been staring at Jensen since he sat down.

 

“Oh, sorry, it’s nothing.”

 

“Right,” Jensen responded sarcastically, obviously not believing Jared, even though Jared had given him a small smile and stopped staring at him to make it appear that there was indeed nothing wrong. “It’s okay, you know, you can ask about Steve.”

 

Shocked, Jared looked back at Jensen; surprised that Jensen knew what was on his mind. “But it’s none of my business.” It was supposed to be a statement of fact, yet it came out more like a question.

 

“Of course it’s your business, you’re my mate, and I am yours, there will not be anyone else.”

 

Since Jensen didn’t seem uncomfortable in any way about the subject, Jared went ahead and voiced one of the questions that had been floating around in his head since the first time that he’d witnessed Steve and Jensen hug and heard Chris’ comment in response to it. “But Steve is the friend you kissed, right? The one you talked about last night, the one who gave you the black eye?”

 

Jensen laughed softly and leaned over to kiss Jared swiftly on the lips, pulling back before Jared could respond. “Yes, I kissed Steve once a little over a year ago, but it was Chris who gave me the black eye, which I totally deserved. I’ve never seen Steve hurt anyone, even when they deserve it, one of the many things that make Steve and Chris a good couple; Chris takes good care of Steve, and in turn Steve takes good care of Chris in his own way. They have been together for as long as I’ve known them.”

 

All that Jensen had just said made sense, yet… “But, you still love him, still want him.” The thought hurt, though Jared wasn’t really sure why. Sure, Jensen had been nice to him, but it wasn’t like he was with Jensen voluntarily. Why did he care if Jensen wanted anyone besides him?

 

“I… I’m attracted to Steve, I used to have a crush on him, but that was more that a year ago. Now, I love him, as a friend, we’re close, we **get** each other, and yes, I’m still attracted to him, and, much to Chris’ annoyance, I sometimes look, but I don’t **want** him, I like the friendship we have right now, and I don’t want to change that, not even if Steve would be in anyway remotely interested leaving Chris for me, which he’s not.”

 

“Okay,” Jared said softly, taking Jensen’s explanation as truth, though somehow he was not completely reassured.

 

Jensen reached out to caress Jared’s slightly stubbled cheek as he forced him to look into his eyes in the hope that they would convey the truth of his words. “I only want you, Jared, no one else; there will never be anyone else.”

 

Jared nodded, wanting to believe in Jensen’s fidelity. “Okay,” he said again, but this time with more conviction, and this time he leaned in to the kiss that Jensen once again initiated.

 

By the time they came up for air, Jared had made up his mind to repay Jensen’s honesty with some of his own; by telling him that Chris had asked if he was all right and that he had given him his phone number in case he needed call or just wanted to talk.

 

“Okay, thanks for telling me,” Jensen simply replied after Jared had narrated everything that had happened in the hallway a few hours ago.

 

“So, you’re not mad at Chris?” Jared questioned. That had been his main concern, that Jensen would be angry at Chris; he didn’t want to cause trouble between Jensen and his friends.

 

“Of course not, why would I be upset that my friend is looking out for your wellbeing? That’s a good thing, Jared. And while I would prefer it that you felt like you could talk to me about everything, I have no problem with you talking to Chris when you want to.”

 

Jared smiled as thanks, glad that they both had let each other know what was going on.

 

\---------------

 

During the next two weeks Jared had quickly learned that Jensen really enjoyed sex, and enjoyed it frequently. Not every single night though, for which Jared was grateful. Some nights they would simply sleep; however, since their first time, they’d slept in each other’s arms, no longer staying on each other’s side of the bed. And Jared found that he didn’t mind; once he knew that Jensen did not want to have sex that night, he could sleep comfortably in Jensen’s arms.

 

Unfortunately those nights were rare; in the last two weeks it had only happened three times. And, not only did Jensen want sex almost every night, he also wanted it occasionally during the day, which unnerved Jared, because it made Jensen unpredictable, which in turn made Jared jumpy.

 

When they had sex, it usually happened a lot like that first night, with some variations, but no intercourse. Though only because Jensen said that **he** was not ready for that yet. Jared didn’t bother sharing that he himself would be perfectly happy if the day that Jensen was ready would never come. What he did or did not want didn’t matter anyway, at least not when it involved sex.

 

It wasn’t that Jared hated the sex they had. He actually really enjoyed the kissing, and had found himself initiating the kisses they shared several times. If it was up to him, he would just spend hours kissing Jensen, and leave it at that. Though, to be fair, he couldn’t complain about the orgasms that Jensen gave him, which he generously did almost every time they had sex, they were pretty damn awesome. But at the end of the day it still felt like sex was a chore; pleasing Jensen was a requirement, not an option, and only something they did whenever Jensen felt like it, whenever Jensen initiated it.

 

Besides their usual way of bringing each other off with hand jobs, they tried blowjobs a few times. Well… Jared tried giving them to Jensen anyway; apparently it was inappropriate for a Plebeian to be on the receiving end of one. And Jared understood perfectly well why that was after the first time he gave one to Jensen. They sure as hell weren’t one his favorite things to do; more often than not he ended up choking, and not only did come feel slimy, sticky, and really just gross, as he had found out that first night, it also tasted bitter and made him kind of nauseous whenever he swallowed some of it, which Jensen just _happened_ to encourage. If Jensen hadn’t been such a nice guy and treated him so well over the last few weeks, Jared would have thought that Jensen made him do it just to be cruel. But Jensen liked blowjobs, and complimented him on his skill, telling him that he was getting better at them.

 

While kissing was nice, hand jobs were okay, and blowjobs were very unpleasant, his favorite type of sex was the way they did it the third time they had sex; kissing each other while Jensen was on top of him, no clothes between them and just rubbing off on each other; simple but oh so pleasurable, and Jared found himself actually looking forward to the next time they would have sex this way.

 

\----------------

 

Jared’s anger, frustration, and confusion, which he had kept in check so far, exploded on an early morning, halfway into the fourth week, when Jensen had planned for them to go look at apartments. Jensen had nicely and quickly settled into his apprenticeship and wanted to get an apartment for them that was closer to work, since the State’s Court was located on the other side of the city.

 

It was a Thursday and as usual Jared woke up before Jensen. He took a nice, warm, and long shower and got ready for breakfast. As he got out of the bathroom with only a towel around his waist, heading for the walk-in closet to get dressed, Jensen had woken up and greeted him with a ‘good morning’ that was quickly followed by the request for a blowjob.

 

Now Jensen was always nice and indeed formed it as a request instead of an order, which they both knew it really was… according to the laws anyway. And while Jared was grateful for that, today he surprised both Jensen and himself by taking it indeed as a question by answering “No.”

 

Jensen blinked sleepily at him, “No?”

 

Jared felt the anger running through him, not just about the simple order disguised as a request, but about the whole situation. He had been in a good mood, looking forward to moving into their own apartment, in the hope that he would feel more comfortable there than in Jensen’s parents’ home. But Jensen’s question brought back his anger and frustration; he didn’t want to give Jensen a blowjob, especially not on an empty stomach.

 

His anger gave Jared the strength to look Jensen in the eye, repeat his refusal, and walk into the walk-in closet to get dressed, and in so doing, turning his back to Jensen.

 

Jared had put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, for once not carefully selecting his outfit to fit the day’s plans, and was drying his hair with the towel, when Jensen had made his way out of bed and toward Jared. With his back still turned toward the closet’s entrance, Jared didn’t see Jensen’s hand come up to lie on his shoulder.

 

He flinched. This was the first time he’d rebelled, and he was sure that Jensen was pissed; he feared the worst.

 

But all Jensen did was squeeze his shoulder lightly, and told him, in an even tone, “Please tell Sharon to bring my breakfast up, and meet me downstairs when you’re ready to leave.”

 

Jared did as he was told, and spent his time at the breakfast table cursing his own stupidity. Now he was nauseous from the nerves wreaking havoc in his stomach, instead of from swallowing Jensen’s come. So the only thing he’d accomplished was to cause trouble for himself.

 

After excusing himself from the breakfast table, even though his plate wasn’t even half empty, he escaped into the living room, and, after checking that no one was around, he picked up the phone that was standing on one of the side tables and dialed the number he had memorized only a few weeks ago.

 

“Yeah?” a sleepy Chris answered on the other side of the line.

 

 “I think he’s mad at me.” Jared said softly, not to be overheard, skipping pleasantries.

 

“Jared?”

 

“Yeah, I’m an idiot. Today was going to be a nice day, and now I’ve ruined it.”

 

“Wow, slow down man. I’m half asleep here, and you’re not making any sense.”

 

Jared felt his stomach drop, of course, he was such a fool; Chris didn’t give him his phone number to call every single time he screwed up. He was just being nice, and probably didn’t think Jared would actually call unless it was for something serious like being in need of a drive to the hospital.

 

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ll… I’ll go. Sorry,” he mumbled, even more upset than before.

 

Just as he was about to hang up, he heard Chris yelling through the phone.

 

“Jared, Jared!”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Don’t hang up. I wasn’t complaining, I just needed a minute to wake up.”

 

“Oh” was all Jared could think of to say.

 

“Shit, hold on Jared, I woke up Steve.”

 

Jared heard the phone being put down, but could still make out the conversation going on the other side.

 

_“Who is it?”_

_“Nothing for you to worry about babe, go back to sleep, I’ll tell you later.”_

_“Okay.”_

Sounds of Chris moving around and a door being closed could be heard before Chris came back on.

 

“Sorry about that, Steve’s not a morning person. Now tell me what’s going on. I meant what I said; you can call me anytime, about anything. Are you alright?”

 

Reassured by Chris, though feeling bad about waking up Steve, Jared started talking. “I’m okay, but I was an idiot. This morning when Jensen woke up he wanted a blowjob, and stupid me said no. He didn’t yell or anything, he was kinda stunned, but he didn’t come down to have breakfast, and… and we’re supposed to go out and look at apartments, and… what if he’s really mad, what if…”

 

“Jared, stop,” Chris interrupted him, “breathe, it’s going to be alright. Jensen is a good guy; I didn’t give you my number because I thought that he would hurt you, I just wanted you to have someone to talk to when you’re upset, or when Jensen would do something foolish. I’ve know Jensen for two years now; he’s not a violent or mean guy.”

 

“So he won’t be angry with me?” Jared asked hopeful.

 

Chris sighed. “I don’t know if he won’t be upset, I mean, I’m sure you’ve been told how things are ‘supposed’ to be, what your place in the world is, while growing up. And yes, you’ve got a mind of your own, as you have just demonstrated by refusing Jensen, but I assume that those teachings are still with you, telling you that you don’t have the right to say no.”

 

“Yes,” Jared admitted softly.

 

“Jensen grew up like that as well, except of course, with the story the other way around. But he’s very much got a mind of his own as well, and I’m hoping that he’ll use it and ask you why you said no. Either way, he is not going to seriously hurt you. You don’t have to worry about that.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Good, now why did you refuse to give him a blowjob anyway?”

 

“I,”

 

Just then, Jensen walked in, looking for Jared since he wasn’t in the hallway waiting for him. “Are you ready to go?”

 

Jared froze, still holding the phone up to his ear. He wanted to believe Chris, but… “I have to go,” he told Chris.

 

“Yeah, I heard Jensen, it will be fine, just, try to talk to him, K?”

 

“Okay, bye.”

 

“Who was that?” Jensen asked, still not giving Jared any indication about his emotional state.

 

“Chris.”

 

“Yeah? You guys conspiring on how to cockblock me some more?” Jensen questioned coldly.

 

Jared’s eyes widened in shock, and he shook his head, trying to find words. “I… no, Chris… Chris didn’t do anything, he didn’t say anything bad.”

 

Jensen closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, that accusation was uncalled for. Let’s just go, we don’t want to keep the realtor waiting.”

 

Jensen didn’t wait for Jared to answer, he just turned around and walked outside, obviously expecting Jared to follow, which he did while dreading the 20 minute drive he was about to endure.

 

*****

 

They got settled in the back of the car, the driver got them on their way, and after a few long, uncomfortable minutes of silence, Jared felt it was best to speak up.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

His apology made Jensen face him for the first time since they left the house, “Are you?”

 

“I… I didn’t mean to make you angry.” Jared settled for, because he wasn’t sorry for actually refusing the blowjob, and he was pretty sure lying wasn’t a good idea.

 

Jensen gave him a small smile, but as he reached out to brush away a lock of Jared’s hair that was once again stubbornly hanging in front of his eye, Jared flinched when he saw the hand coming his way.

 

Jensen pulled his hand away quickly, “Shit, Jared,” he said frustrated, “I never raised a hand to you, I never hurt you and I can’t imagine I ever will. What did I do to deserve you being so scared of me?”

 

“I’m sorry,” Jared repeated, now looking down at his hands, not knowing what else to say.

 

“Sorry doesn’t help here, Jared. Just… talk to me, please. What did I do wrong? Why do you expect me to hit you? And why did you say no to me this morning?”

 

Jared stayed silent, making Jensen try a different tactic.

 

“Okay, I’ll start. I childishly accused you and Chris back at the house for conspiring, which was very wrong of me to do, I just want you to talk to me, so I was jealous of Chris that you chose to talk to him. I’m not angry that you called Chris, I meant what I said; you are free to talk to him about anything. And I’m not angry that you refused me this morning, I just want to know what’s going on with you, Jared.”

 

Jared had looked up in the mean time and was looking somewhat hopeful at Jensen. “You’re not mad?”

 

Jensen slowly moved his hand once again toward Jared, this time to take hold of his hand. He didn’t like the space between them, not the physical nor the emotional space. “No, I’m not mad.”

 

Jared nodded, and took a minute to put his thoughts into words. “‘Disobey and you will be punished.’ the holy book says. ‘When your mate chooses to hurt you, it is his right, and you will accept it,’ Father Joseph constantly told us. ‘When,’ he always said, never ‘if’.”

 

“Damn,” Jensen mumbled. He moved to sit in the corner of the backseat, and gently pulled on Jared’s arm, silently asking him to come and sit with him. Jared moved over, leaning his back against Jensen’s chest and placing his long legs on the rest of the backseat.

 

Jensen wound his arms around Jared to hold him close, and kissed his temple. “I don’t agree with the book and with Father Joseph on this, Jared. Hurting you is the last thing I want to do. And I may get angry sometimes, we probably both will, but I will not hit you or hurt you in any other way, not even when you disobey me.”

 

He took a minute before continuing, enjoying having Jared in his arms.

 

“I know that you didn’t choose this, I know that you probably want nothing more than to be back home with your family and friends. But, I want you to be happy with me, Jared, I want us to be happy, and I realize that will take some time on your part, but you’re already making me happy. I like you a lot, Jared.”

 

Jensen stopped talking, giving Jared some time.

 

After a few minutes, Jared had found enough courage to speak up. “I don’t like giving blowjobs.” he admitted quietly. “When I swallow the come, it makes me nauseous, even more so when I do it on an empty stomach, like you asked me to do this morning.”

 

Jensen was surprised, of all the reasons that he had considered for Jared’s actions, he hadn’t thought of that one. “Oh, I… I wish you had told me that sooner, I don’t want to make you sick, Jared.”

 

“But you like it when I go down on you.”

 

“I do, but not at the cost of your health. I thought we talked about that when we first wanted to go to Chris and Steve’s. If you don’t feel well, tell me. And if you know the reason for it, definitely tell me that too.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s all right, just, please talk to me about these things. You can talk to me about anything, always.”

 

Jared nodded, knowing that Jensen would feel it.

 

“Good, now let’s try to solve this problem. How about a compromise? You still give me blowjobs, but just before I come, you move away and finish me off with your hand. How is that? I’ll still get the blowjobs I enjoy, but you don’t have to swallow any come, so you won’t get sick.”

 

Jared sat up a bit, and turned around to look at Jensen. His agreement to the compromise was his huge smile. He was stunned and delighted at Jensen’s suggestion; he would never have guessed that any Princip would ever take his feelings into consideration.

 

He leaned in and captured Jensen’s mouth in a kiss, and they spent the rest of the drive in each other’s arms.

 

*****

 

At the first apartment complex they met with their realtor. Jensen had called the realtor agency two days before, scheduled an appointment with a realtor named Mrs. Greadson, and had informed her that he was looking for a two bedroom apartment with a large living area and an up to date kitchen.

 

The first apartment that Jensen and Jared walked into was indeed spacious and had an open floor plan, so the minute they walked in, Mrs. Greadson, a short woman with curly blonde hair, came up to them and introduced herself to Jensen. Jensen politely shook her hand and introduced Jared.

 

Mrs. Greadson spared a quick glance in Jared’s direction. “Right,” she said, and she turned back to Jensen and gave him a patently fake smile. “Come on in, I’ll give you the grand tour. I’ve got a couple other places in mind, but this apartment is a real gem.”

 

As she led Jensen around the apartment talking about the texture of the ceiling and the view of the balcony, Jared silently followed him, looking around him while staying out of their way. The apartment was pretty nice and big, but it was nothing special; the rooms had no character.

 

Jensen apparently felt the same way, because after Mrs. Greadson finished her well-rehearsed sales pitch, he asked her to please show them the next apartment.

 

The second apartment was a few blocks north, and while this apartment looked better, Jensen didn’t seem to like it.

 

As Mrs. Greadson was talking about who knows what, Jensen made eye contact with Jared and raised his eyebrow, which Jared could only interpret as ‘what do you think?’

 

Jared shrugged in response, not knowing what to answer.

 

“Mrs. Greadson” Jensen interrupted the woman.

 

“Yes sir?”

 

“It seems that this isn’t really what we’re looking for after all, do you have anything… different?”

 

“Well…” the realtor said after thinking for a minute. “I do have a lovely townhouse nearby, it has a wonderful living space with an open kitchen downstairs, and two bedrooms on the second floor, plus it has a nice sized yard out back. Would you like to see that one?”

 

Jensen agreed, and ten minutes later they stood in front of a white painted brick building that was split up into four townhouses. There was only one for sale, and the others all seemed to be comfortably lived in; flowering pots were standing next to the entry way of the house farthest to the left and colorful children’s curtains where hanging in front of the windows in the house on the right. The other side of the street looked much the same.

 

The inside of the house was perfect; large bedrooms, plenty of light inside, great kitchen, and then of course there was the yard. Jensen had noticed how Jared’s eyes lit up as they walked through the yard, which was landscaped plainly yet colorfully with a bright green lawn in the middle, surrounded by flowering plants and small trees.

 

At the end of the tour, back inside the living room, Jensen spoke up. “What do you think?”

 

“I think it’s,” Mrs. Greadson started.

 

“I wasn’t talking to you, ma’am, I was asking Jared.”

 

Mrs. Greadson looked at Jensen oddly, after looking at Jared for only the second time that morning. “Of course.”

 

Jensen bit his tongue to keep from confronting her about her sarcastic tone, and politely dismissed her. “Could you leave us for a minute to talk?”

 

After she left, mumbling to herself about making a phone call, Jensen turned to Jared, “Well?”

 

Jared looked at Jensen curiously, “You want to know what I think of this house?”

 

“Yes, of course I do.” Jensen said resolutely. “You have to live here too.”

 

Jared smiled. “I love it. It looks good, it, I don’t know, feels good, feels right.”

 

“I know what you mean.” Jensen agreed. “I think we’ll be able to call this home. Let’s get Mrs. ‘I don’t speak or look at my customer’s mate’ back in here so that I can sign the paper work, and then we’ll go to Chris and Steve’s to celebrate. I don’t know about you, but after a few hours with Mrs. Greadson, I’m seriously in the need of spending time with people who actually treat you as a human being.”

 

Jared nodded happily, moved into Jensen’s personal pace, wrapped his arms around his waist and leaned in for a kiss. Today had turned into a great day after all.

 

\----------------

 

Move in day was only two days later, and with the help of their friends, everything was in its place by the end of the evening. While it had been a long day filled with carrying heavy boxes and lifting furniture, furniture that Jared and Jensen picked out together at an online store, Jared was happy and content at the end of the day when they were cuddling on the very comfortable couch that evening after their friends had left.

 

Now that they were living on their own, Jared had a lot more to do, which was good because he really didn’t know what to do with himself during the time that Jensen was working. Now he had a whole house to keep clean, laundry to do, a garden to take care of, and meals to prepare. For the last one Steve had come to the rescue; Jared had never cooked before in his life, and neither had Jensen. Luckily for them, Steve was not only a very talented musician, but also a great cook and an awesome friend. Those first few weeks he had frequently came by to teach Jared how to make Jensen’s favorite meals, and a few new ones to surprise Jensen with after a long day.

 

Life was good; Jared felt at home unexpectedly fast, no longer feeling like he was a guest, like he did in Mr. Ackles’ home. He loved being outside taking care of the plants in their garden, he loved the furniture that he had helped pick out, he loved that Jensen let him rearrange the china, utensils, and pots and pans in the kitchen to fit his own way of working, and he found himself even starting to really enjoy spending time with Jensen, who would come home after work always happy to see him, treating him like he was the most important thing in the world.

 

Usually when Jensen would come home on a workday, Jared would have dinner ready so they could eat while talking about everything and nothing. Afterwards they would either play computer games or watch a movie. And yes, when they went to bed, more often than not, they had sex. But Jared found that he was enjoying it more and more and that it started to feel less and less like a chore.

 

\----------------

 

While shopping for clothes and some other things Jensen needed, two weeks after they moved into their townhouse, Jared’s attention was drawn like a magnet to the pet store they passed, or more precisely, to the puppies that could be viewed in the store’s window. Jensen followed him, and enjoyed a very different view for a couple minutes, a view of an adorable Jared ‘coo-ing’ and ‘aw-ing’ at the puppies.

 

“They are adorable, Jensen. Look at that one, the one with a black spot on his head, and, aww, look at his cute little tail! We’ve got to buy one!”

 

At Jensen’s lack of response, Jared turned his head to look at Jensen. His smile slowly disappeared as he saw Jensen’s grave facial expression. After rewinding his own dialog in his head, his eyes widened at the realization that he just ‘ordered’ Jensen to buy something.

 

Jared took a step forward, reaching out to touch Jensen’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

 

But Jensen took a step back, out of his reach, and turned around, walking to their original destination, the bookstore, without a word, look, or any other type of acknowledgment in Jared’s direction.

 

Cursing his own stupidity, Jared rushed to catch up with Jensen, walking two feet behind Jensen, as a ‘proper’ Plebeian should.

 

The bookstore was fortunately their last stop before returning home. In the car Jared once more tried to apologize, but Jensen didn’t respond to him in anyway.

 

******

 

However, Jensen didn’t ignore Jared to be mean, he was angry and didn’t want to take it out on Jared, not that he would ever physically hurt him, but he didn’t want to yell at him either. He was thinking, trying to work out some stuff in his head. Jensen was confused and conflicted, he loved Jared and he loved it when Jared was expressive, but the second he heard Jared’s order, no matter that it was an innocent request expressed by accident as an order, it felt wrong inside. His teachings screamed at him ‘wrong’ and ‘bad’, and, to Jensen’s horror, he even felt the need to punish Jared for his misbehavior.

 

******

 

By the time they came home, Jared was slowly freaking out. He couldn’t deal with the silent treatment, and Jensen seemed so angry.

 

After they took off their coats and shoes, Jensen grabbed Jared none to gently by the arm, and led him into the living room, making him sit on the couch, before sitting next to him, though not as close as they usually sat.

 

Jensen sighed and looked at Jared for a moment before speaking.

 

Jared in turn was looking back at him, not daring to look away.

 

“You can ask me anything, you can express your thoughts and your feelings to me, hell, I _want_ you to. But you _can’t_ tell me what to do, Jared; you can’t, _especially_ not in public.”

 

“I know, I’m sorry, I forgot.”

 

Jensen tried to ignore the hurt puppy look that Jared gave him, though it was damn hard. He brought his hand up to rub his eyes, blocking Jared from his sight. “The church warns us about this, they say ‘don’t treat Plebeians too leniently, for they will forget their place.’ Now I don’t agree with the Church’s and State’s idea of what your place is, you know that by now, and I don’t want to treat you the way they suggest I should treat you, but Jared, I’ve got to draw the line somewhere. You can’t give me orders in public; you’ve got to realize this. An ‘oops, I forgot my place,’ isn’t acceptable. If you can’t remember that, things will have to change around here.” Jensen’s tone was harsher than he intended, but besides being conflicted, he was also scared; while it was rare, occasionally a mate was taken from a Princip because the court had ruled that the Princip had not taken proper care of his mate, resulting in the forgetting of his place in society, which was seen as a disservice to the Plebeian.

 

When he finally looked up to look at Jared again, Jared was crying, confused and hurt, not knowing what to do when an apology wasn’t good enough.

 

At the sight of tears, Jensen’s heart broke. “Shhh, it will be okay.” He sat closer, pulling Jared into his arms, brushing away his tears and kissing his forehead. “I love you, and I don’t want to change things between us, I’m happy with the way things are. I just don’t want to lose you Jared; the court can take you away if they rule that I don’t treat you strict enough.”

 

Jared, shocked at Jensen’s words, pulled back, trying to turn to face him; he didn’t want to be taken away. At that moment he realized that it was true, he like the way things were and he didn’t want to leave Jensen. “I don’t want to leave,” he voiced out loud as he shook his head, eyes wide in fear of the thought.

 

Jensen pulled him back into his arms, “It’s okay; you’re not going anywhere. But do you understand now why I got angry at you, why we can’t have a repeat performance of this afternoon?”

 

“Yes, I’m so sorry, I’ll never forget again, I swear. Please forgive me.”

 

“Of course, Jared, of course I forgive you.” Jensen held him tighter, not letting go until it was far past dinnertime.

 

*******

 

Since it was too late to bother to cook, Jensen ordered pizza for them. By the time they had put away their purchases of the day, the doorbell rang, indicating that the pizza was there.

 

Not bothering with plates they both grabbed a slice of meat lover’s pizza before even sitting down on the sofa.

 

“So,” Jensen started as he took a second slice, “a dog?”

 

The look on Jared’s face was comical; he looked shocked, apprehensive yet hopeful at the mention of the ‘dog’ subject.

 

Jensen forced himself not to laugh though, and continued talking as it was obvious that Jared didn’t know what to say.

 

“A dog isn’t something you just buy in the spur of the moment; it’s something that we have to really think about.”

 

“I know, we used to have a dog, his name was Harley; he was a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a great friend! Unfortunately he was old, and died about a year ago.”

 

“Okay… so when you say you want a dog, you really want a dog.”

 

Jared nodded happily, while at the same time trying to take a bite of his pizza.

 

“I’ve never had a dog,” Jensen disclosed, “or really any type of pet, but I’ll think about it.”

 

And the fact that Jensen would consider getting a dog, made Jared almost forget their horrible afternoon.

 

\----------------

 

After that one ‘incident’, life went on smoothly and quite pleasantly. They found their rhythm, working hard during the day and spending time together during the evenings and weekends, both getting more and more comfortable with their new life and each other.

 

During breakfast, about three weeks after the ‘incident’, Jared was deep in thought; thinking about how much life had changed, and how lucky he was that while everything was different now, he was happy.

 

Apparently he had been staring in front of him blankly for too long, as Jensen had noticed and had gotten worried. “Jared, hey, Jared,” he reached over the breakfast table to lay a hand on Jared’s arm to shake him out of his trance, “are you alright?”

 

Jared forced his focus back to the here and now. “Oh, yes, sorry. I was just thinking.”

 

“Anything wrong?”

 

“No, nothing’s wrong, just… thinking, nothing serious.”

 

Jensen seemed reassured by his words, and started to put his plate in the kitchen sink. “I’ve got to get to work, call me if you want me to pick up dinner tonight.” He leaned down to kiss Jared, who was still sitting at the breakfast table. Jared happily kissed him back, and by the time they separated both were breathing heavily. “Damn, I wish I didn’t have to go.”

 

Jared laughed and playfully pushed Jensen back. “Go to work, I’ll be here when you get home.”

 

That brought a deviant smile on Jensen’s face. “Don’t give me any ideas, maybe we’ll just skip dinner.”

 

“We’ll see… but you should go now or you’ll be late.”

 

“I’m going, I’m going,” Jensen said, though his actions contradicted his words as he leaned down for another kiss. “Love you, see you tonight.”

 

Jared watched Jensen walk out of the room, and before he made it to the front door, Jared was already staring out in front of him, lost in thought.

 

Jensen had been telling him that he loved him almost every day, ever since the ‘incident’, like the thought of losing him had made Jensen realize how much Jared meant to him. And Jared never once doubted his sincerity of his words; he saw Jensen’s love for him in his eyes, in his touch, in everything he did. This brought him back to his earlier thoughts of how happy he was with Jensen.

 

Jensen made him laugh, gave him more freedom then he had ever imagined, encouraged his hobbies such as gardening and his new-found pleasure in painting, and most importantly, Jensen made him feel loved.

 

There was no doubt, Jensen loved him. But did he love Jensen?

 

He was worried about Jensen when he came home late, missed him whenever he wasn’t there, and he enjoyed his touch; no longer dreading the nights, but now actually looking forward to the next time that he would be in Jensen’s arms.

 

Now life wasn’t perfect, sometimes Jensen would be grumpy, and at times Jared didn’t feel like doing his household chores. At one point, Jared even suggested that Jensen mop the floor for once when Jensen dropped something on the kitchen floor. Unsurprisingly, Jensen was not amused. But no matter what, at the end of the day, they worked things out and were right where they both wanted to be… in each other’s arms.

 

Jared once more shook himself from his thoughts, this time with a smile of his face as he realized, “I love him, I really love him.”

 

With his new insight to his own feelings, Jared felt like he was walking on clouds all day, and he couldn’t wait till Jensen got home.

 

*******

 

Thirty minutes before Jensen was due home, Jared called the local pizzeria to have them deliver Jensen’s favorite pizza, and forced himself to sit still for the first time since his epiphany that morning. He had kept himself busy with cleaning the whole house, at first to make the time go faster because he wanted Jensen to come home, then around 3pm he started to feel nervous as he came to another conclusion, and he kept on cleaning to keep his mind off of it. He even thoroughly cleaned himself by taking an extra long shower.

 

After 25 minutes that seemed to take forever, the pizza arrived, but for once the delicious smell of pizza didn’t appeal to Jared. He didn’t want food; he wanted Jensen, just Jensen.

 

It took another eight minutes before his wish was granted, and Jensen didn’t even have time to close the door before he had his arms filled with Jared.

 

Stunned, Jensen returned the hug for a few seconds before pushing Jared back a little so that he could see him. “Jared? Are you alright?” he asked concerned.

 

Jared’s smile beamed at him, “Yeah, I’m just glad that you’re home. Come eat, we’ve got pizza.”

 

“Pizza?” Jensen questioned as he untangled himself from Jared long enough to close and lock the door behind him and take off his jacket and shoes.

 

Jared had let go of Jensen, but didn’t step out of his personal space. “Yeah, pizza. That’s okay, right? I could make you something else if you want, but pizza is simple and quick.”

 

“No, it’s fine, pizza is good,” Jensen assured him.

 

They sat at the dinner table where Jared had placed the pizza box, and started eating. Well, Jensen started eating; Jared seemed to be taking ant-sized bites from his slice.

 

Jensen was getting concerned with Jared’s strange behavior. “Are you sure everything is alright?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, just… are you done with dinner?”

 

Jensen looks somewhat sadly at his half eaten slice, before placing it back in the pizza box. “I guess I am.”

 

Jared enthusiastically put his own slice back into to box, which did nothing to reassure Jensen that Jared was all right, and made his way to the kitchen to wash up. Jensen followed Jared’s lead, and then found himself on the couch with Jared half on top of him, kissing him passionately.

 

When they were forced apart by the need for oxygen, Jared only leaned back an inch, breathing in Jensen’s air, looking straight into Jensen’s eyes as he whispered, “I love you.”

 

The smile on Jensen’s face in response to those three little words was blinding and his eyes sparkled. He leaned forward and captured Jared’s lips into another kiss. Who needed oxygen anyway? At that moment he would have happily died of oxygen deprivation.

 

Jared on the other hand had bigger plans, and once again ended the kiss. He moved to straddle Jensen’s hips to get more comfortable and even closer. “I love you. I want you.”

 

“I want you too, always. I love you,” Jensen replied.

 

But Jared knew that Jensen didn’t get the implications of his words, and Jared didn’t let Jensen pull him back into another kiss when he tried to.  “I want you, I want to make love to you and I want you inside of me.” He spelled it out to make sure there was no way to misinterpret of his intentions.

 

Jensen stared at him with wide eyes, his mouth trying to form words, though nothing came out, at least not until he shook his head to try to clear it. “Jared, are you sure? You don’t have to.”

 

“I know, but I want to.”

 

“But… Jared, it supposedly hurts, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

 

Jared couldn’t resist Jensen’s adorable, confused look, and gave him a quick kiss before reassuring him. “You’ll make it good for me, I trust you.”

 

“Yeah?’

 

“Yeah,” Jared said indisputably, giving Jensen a smile.

 

Convinced, Jensen tapped Jared on the thigh, “Well, why are we sitting on the couch then, let’s move this to the bedroom, ‘cause if we’re doing this, we’re doing it properly.”

 

Jared jumped up and together they stormed up the stairs like a couple of children.

 

******

 

They playfully wrestled on the bed, both attempting to get the other’s clothes off at the same time. It worked with their shirts, though Jared pulled at least one button off Jensen’s shirt in the process. Their pants were a bigger challenge though and they didn’t get past the zipper of Jensen’s slacks before Jensen got too frustrated and pushed Jared to lay flat on his back on the bed while Jensen completely covered him and kissed him slowly and softly in an attempt to get them both to calm down.

 

Of course it didn’t really help because kissing Jared with the knowledge of what was to come melted Jensen’s brain even more than usual.

 

They finally did manage to get naked though, not that Jared was really sure how it happened. But who cared when Jensen’s tongue was playing with his nipple and his fingers tracing were every square inch of his skin.

 

As Jensen’s teeth softly scraped over the now swollen nub, Jared gasped out loud and lifted his hips is search of some friction where he needed it most. His cock was half hard, but Jensen’s thigh was placed just out of reach between his legs.

 

Frustrated, Jared let go of the sheets he had been holding on to, placed them on Jensen’s hips and flipped them around so that he was straddling Jensen, their cocks blissfully touching when he leaned down for a kiss.

 

It wasn’t often that Jared was aggressive in the bedroom, but when he was Jensen didn’t seem to mind, though he always made sure that Jared was again beneath him before long.

 

While their tongues were fighting for control, Jared moved his hips to create friction, their cocks rubbing against each other, both growing harder, pre-come providing lubrication.

 

Jared couldn’t help but smile when Jensen moaned into their kiss, though his smile soon turned into a pout when Jensen ended the kiss and brought his hands to Jared’s hips to freeze their movement. “If you keep this up, I won’t last long.”

 

“Well, what are you waiting for? I already invited you in.”

 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jensen couldn’t help but ask again. He wasn’t sure why he’d never pushed for intercourse with Jared; he officially didn’t need Jared’s permission after all. At first it was because he himself wasn’t ready for it, but that hadn’t been the case for a while now. Perhaps he was unconsciously waiting for a sign from Jared that it was okay, and now that he had it, he couldn’t wait until he was inside of him. But first, he had to be sure.

 

Jared looked straight into Jensen’s eyes to get across that he meant it when he said “Yes, I’m sure.”

 

“Well then, we’re going to need lube. It’s on the bottom of my sock drawer.”

 

Jared quickly found the still sealed tube and made his way back to the bed.

 

Jensen took the tube from Jared and worked on opening it as he directed Jared to position himself on his hands and knees.

 

“What? Why?” Jared questioned as he stayed right were he was.

 

“It will be more comfortable that way.”

 

“But… I want to see you; I want to make love to you.”

 

Jensen couldn’t help but sigh; he would love to do it the way Jared suggested, but to make sure he knew what he was doing, he had talked to Chris about the how and what when it came to sex months before he had even met Jared. And Chris had been adamant, intercourse hurt the first time, sometimes even the first **few** times, and the best way to make it easier on his partner was to have him on his hands and knees.

 

“Jared, it will hurt more that way,” Jensen tried to persuade him.

 

“I don’t care,” Jared said certainly while he made his way to Jensen and cupped his face with his right hand before leaning in for a kiss. He broke the kiss but only moved back far enough to look into Jensen’s eyes. “Please, Jensen, I want to look into your eyes when you come inside of me.”

 

Jared’s pleading eyes got to Jensen as they usually did, and he relented. “All right, but I’m taking my time prepping you, don’t try to rush me.”

 

Jared nodded excitedly and made himself comfortable on his back in the middle of the bed.

 

Jensen completely covered Jared with his body and slowly made his way from Jared’s lips to his cock. In the meantime he covered his index finger of his right hand with lube, and as he, for the first time ever, took Jared’s cock into his mouth he slowly pushed his finger into Jared.

 

Jared drew in a sharp breath as the two new sensations simultaneously happened. “Fuck.”

 

“Don’t get used to it; I just heard that it’s a great distraction from the pain.” Jensen warned as he pulled back to take a breath before going back down, though he didn’t try to take more than half of Jared’s cock in his mouth; he had no intention of choking on it.

 

Jared was extremely tight around his finger, but after a while his muscles loosened up enough for Jensen to push in a second finger. Jared moaned loudly in response and Jensen wasn’t sure if it was from pleasure or discomfort. He released Jared’s hard and leaking cock, and moved up to face Jared while keeping his fingers in place.

 

“You stopped,” Jared said softly, unable to hide his disappointment.

 

Jensen ignored his complaint, more concerned about his wellbeing. “Are you all right?”

 

“I was, until you stopped.” Jared responded lightly. But Jensen kept looking at him, waiting for the real answer, and Jared complied. “Yes, I’m fine, it’s uncomfortable and feels kind of strange, but that’s all. Now… your mouth on me was amazing.”

 

Smiling, Jensen kissed Jared as he started moving his finger again, stretching. When he felt that Jared was ready for a third finger he broke away from Jared’s mouth, added some more lube, and took Jared’s neglected cock in his mouth once more before adding the third finger to the two already inside of Jared.

 

Pleasure and pain shot through Jared, and he hissed out loud as Jensen’s fingers pushed all the way in. This was definitely past uncomfortable, but he spread his legs wider to give Jensen more access nonetheless to encourage him to keep going. Maybe it wasn’t rational, but regardless of the pain, Jared still wanted Jensen inside of him, something deep within Jared wanted it, and even if Jared himself didn’t really understand it, he was going to listen to his instinct.

 

Jensen’s mouth on his cock giving him intense pleasure certainly helped Jared’s determination. As the tip of Jensen’s tongue drew a long line along the underside of Jared’s cock with just the right amount of pressure, Jared couldn’t keep still any longer and he pushed his hips up to meet Jensen’s mouth. Apparently encouraged, Jensen worked even harder, sucked harder, until soon after Jared forced himself to speak up, “Jensen, I... I’m gonna come.”

 

With one last lick Jensen pulled away, replacing his mouth with his left hand, while with his right he searched for that one spot inside of Jared that would supposedly ‘rock his world’, according to Chris at least.

 

He was looking at Jared, who had his head thrown back against a pillow, hands clawing at the sheets, sweat making his hair stick to his for head, as he felt the second that he found Jared’s prostate. Jared’s muscles clamped down on his fingers holding them in place, his eyes shot open, and his cock twitched one final time as he came.

 

After what seemed like forever, Jared’s cock stopped spewing come, and his whole body relaxed.

 

Jensen experimentally wiggled his fingers and noticed right away how loose Jared was; just like the rest of Jared’s body, those muscles too were now relaxed. He removed them, slicked up his rock hard cock, and lined up with the tip of his cock touching Jared’s entrance, but didn’t enter yet.

 

With his left hand, after wiping it somewhat clean on the sheets, he brushed away Jared’s hair from his forehead. “Jared, you with me?”

 

First Jared just mumbled something, but after Jensen called his name again, Jared slowly opened his eyes and blinked at Jensen. “Hi.”

 

“Hi.”

 

“That was… wow.”

 

“Yeah? Good. Are you ready for me?” Jensen asked, and to make sure Jared knew what he was talking about he pushed his cock a fraction of an inch inside.

 

Jared lifted his head to kiss Jensen, and lifted his legs, allowing Jensen to place his legs over his shoulders; leaving no doubt that he wanted this.

 

While still kissing, Jensen pushed in slowly. But as the head of his cock breached Jared’s entrance, Jensen slid in about an inch, and Jared tore his mouth from his, crying out in pain, tears forming in his eyes.

 

Jensen froze, though he wanted nothing more that to push all the way into Jared’s heat. He wiped the single tear that traveled down Jared’s cheek as he had closed his eyes, and whispered, “I’m sorry, I love you, please try to relax.”

 

Jared reminded himself that he wanted this, that he pleaded with Jensen to do this. He tried to relax, even though at the moment he wanted nothing more that to push Jensen away. It took several long minutes before the pain subsided a little, and Jared felt brave enough to opening his eyes and give Jensen the go ahead to move with a nod of his head.

 

Jensen, whose resolve to stay still had been pushed beyond its limit, was relieved when Jared finally indicated that he was ready for him to continue. He once more started to slowly push in and this time didn’t stop until he was all the way in. Jared felt incredibly warm and tight around him, the feeling was like no other, and if his desire to move hadn’t been overwhelming, he would have loved to stay there forever.

 

After giving Jared a short while to adjust, Jensen started to move, first slowly, but quickly increasing his pace. He angled his hips in the hope of hitting Jared’s prostate, because while Jared wasn’t in extreme pain anymore, it was obvious that he wasn’t really enjoying it either. On the fifth stroke Jensen hit the spot head on, and Jared gasped out in pleasure. Having found it, Jensen continued to hit his prostate with every stroke, while messily kissing him.

 

The pleasure didn’t overrule the pain enough to get Jared’s spent cock interested enough to do more than twitch, but the pleasure and Jensen’s kisses at least distracted him somewhat from the pain. Soon Jensen’s movements were becoming more and more erratic, and Jared watched in awe when pleasure overcame Jensen as he came inside of him.

 

After a few minutes, Jensen gradually started to move again, rolling off Jared after making sure that he was all right. It took another couple of minutes before Jensen had found the strength to get up and get a warm, wet cloth to clean them both up like he always did after sex. This time though, besides cleaning up their come, he also, to Jared’s dismay, wanted to check Jared’s anus for any damage.

 

“I’m fine,” Jared protested.

 

“Please let me check to be sure, even a small tear can get infected if it’s not treated.”

 

With a deep sigh Jared once again spread his legs, even though the muscles in his legs were sore. Jensen cleaned up come and lube, and checked for damage, which he luckily didn’t find.

 

When he was done, he crawled back onto the bed, drew the sheets over them, turned off the light, and pulled Jared into his arms. “I’m sorry I hurt you so much.”

 

Jared snuggled into his arms, getting comfortable. “It’s okay, we both knew it was going to hurt no matter what, but you made it as good for me as possible. Heck, you even gave me a blowjob, which was amazing; I understand now why you like them so much.”

 

“Yeah, I… About that, uh…” Jensen stuttered, not sure how to say what he wanted to say.

 

But Jared knew what he was trying to say. “I know; that blowjob was a one time thing. That’s okay, I don’t mind, I really appreciate that you did it though, it helped a lot.”

 

“Good, I’m glad it helped.”

 

Jared yawned, but before he fell asleep, he wanted to know one more thing. “That one spot inside, the one that felt so incredible, what was that?”

 

Jensen laughed, “That was your prostate, and once you’re used to having me inside of you so that it won’t hurt anymore, it will feel even better.”

 

“Sounds good, but another time.” Jared yawned again. “Right now, I’m going to sleep for a year.”

 

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you too, Jared, good night.”

 

\----------------

 

The next day Jared was in a bubbly mood, all giggly and totally in love; thinking fondly back to the night before. Yes, it had hurt and he was still sore, but apart from that the night had been amazing, and Jared couldn’t wait to for Jensen to get home.

 

His cheerful mood dampened a bit that afternoon though when Jensen called him from his work.

 

When caller ID first informed Jared that it was Jensen who was calling his heart skipped a beat from joy, and he eagerly answered the phone. “Jensen! Hi. What’s up? I miss you. The weather is wonderful outside; I was working in my garden and…”

 

“Jared, hold up.” Jensen interrupted, “I only have a minute before I have to get back to work.”

 

“Oops, sorry.”

 

“It’s fine, I’m happy to hear your voice. Anyway, I’m calling to let you know that I’ll be home late tonight, an hour at least, maybe more.”

 

“Oh,” Jared mumbled, saddened at the news.

 

However, Jensen didn’t seem to notice the disappointment in Jared’s voice, and continued talking. “I’ve got to go, make something simple for dinner, something that won’t spoil when it’s on the stove for too long.” And before Jared could respond Jensen had hung up with a short ‘goodbye.’

 

After staring at the phone for a minute Jared hung up disappointedly and his mood didn’t improve for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. He knew that Jensen was busy and it wasn’t the first time that he had to work late, but the timing sucked this time.

 

Jared finished his household chores, no longer interested in spending time in the garden and enjoying the nice weather. Thirty minutes after the time that Jensen usually came home he started dinner, fried rice with chicken.

 

It wasn’t until forty-five minutes later that Jared heard the front door open, indicating that Jensen was finally home. As he met him in the hallway, Jensen had already hung up his coat and he quickly made his way to Jared, kissing him the minute he was within reach.

 

Jared couldn’t help but melt into the kiss and forgive him for being late. Though that last part might have been premature, because when Jensen broke the kiss his first words were, “I owe you an apology; I fibbed, I made it sound like the reason that I would be late today was because I had to work late, that wasn’t true.”

 

Confused by the fact that Jensen lied to him, which as far as he knew had never happened before, and by Jensen’s smile on his face as he apologized, Jared didn’t know what to say.

 

Fortunately, Jensen wasn’t expecting a response from him, and he continued talking while he took hold of Jared’s right hand. “I have a good excuse though, I hope that you’ll be happy with the reason why I’m late, come look,” and he led Jared outside to the car.

 

Jared let himself be pulled outside without protest, and when Jensen opened the car door he couldn’t repress a loud squeal of joy; on the back seat was the most adorable German Shepherd Jared had ever seen.

 

Jensen grabbed the leash that was attached to the dog’s collar and encouraged it to get out of the car.

 

Jared right away bent down to pet the dog while listening to Jensen.

 

“It’s a one year old girl; I got her at the pound. Her name is Sadie, she is house trained and well behaved, the only reason why her previous owners gave her up was because their toddler seemed to be allergic to animal hair.” Jensen stopped for a minute to stare down at Jared and Sadie as they got acquainted with each other, he couldn’t help but smile at how endearing they were.

 

Jared seemed to notice that they were being watched, and he let Sadie explore her surroundings, or at least as far as her leash would allow her to go, as he got up to face Jensen. He pretty much jumped him right there in the driveway, showering him with kisses all over his face and whispering “I love you, thank you, I love her, she’s perfect,” before capturing Jensen’s mouth in a hot, long kiss. A kiss that they didn’t break until Sadie barked for the first time, trying to get their attention.

 

“She’s probably hungry, I know I am. Why don’t you get Sadie inside and get dinner on the table while I unload all the dog food, toys, and other necessities out of the trunk.” Jensen suggested, and he lovingly watched at the two ran inside before he even finished talking.

 

Their newest member of the family quickly got settled, and she and Jared were best friends within an hour. Jensen himself learned that he was indeed a dog person; and he joined Jared and Sadie on their walks and in their games as often as possible.

 

 

\----------------

 

A month later, Jensen walked out of the bathroom, ready to settle in for the night, when he found Jared sitting on the bed, focused on whatever was lying in his lap, crying softly.

 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jensen asked, feeling concerned as he walked up to Jared.

 

“Nothing” was the reply he got while Jared quickly wiped away his tears and looked away guiltily.

 

Jensen sat on the bed with his back against the headboard, pulled Jared against his chest so that he was half lying, half sitting, and wrapped his arms around Jared, keeping him close.  “Don’t be silly, you’re crying, something is obviously wrong. What are you looking at?”

 

Jared had held onto the object that was on his lap when Jensen had rearranged their positions, but it was out of Jensen’s line of sight at that moment. He snuggled further into Jensen’s arms and lifted the object to show him. “It’s a book, filled with photos of my family and friends, my mother packed it along with my clothes the day I left.” After a short silence he added, “I’m happy here with you and Sadie, but I miss them.”

 

Jensen sat up a bit straighter so that he could look over Jared’s shoulder and at the book he was talking about. “Show me. Tell me about them?”

 

And Jared did; along with each photo he told Jensen about all the crazy things he and Jeff did while growing up, his mother’s amazing cooking skills, his sister’s silly tea parties, and his father’s love of sports which he shared with his children by taking them to games and teaching them how to play themselves.

 

When they reached the end of the book, Jensen kissed Jared on his temple and told him that his family seemed like wonderful people.

 

Jared nodded in agreement. His had tears dried up a while ago, but he was still sad. “I’ll never see them again, will I?”

 

Jensen gave him another kiss, and replied honestly, “I don’t know. But I do know that there are people out there right now, fighting to give you rights, to give you freedom. And if they win, then together we’ll go and visit them, because I would love to meet the people responsible for raising you. But until then, why don’t we take a few of these photos, frame them, and find a spot for them here in the bedroom and downstairs?”

 

Jared sat up and turned to look at Jensen with a huge smile on his face. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too, Jared, I love you too, forever.”

 

 

The End


End file.
